THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
OF SPIRITUALISM 






THE 

PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 

OF SPIRITUALISM 

FRAUDULENT AND GENUINE 



BEING A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE MOST IMPORTANT HISTORICAL 
PHENOMENA; A. CRITICISM OF THEIR EVIDENTIAL VALUE, 
AND A COMPLETE EXPOSITION OF THE METH- 
ODS EMPLOYED IN FRAUDULENTLY 
REPRODUCING THE SAME 



BY 

HEREWARD CARRINGTON 

Member of the Council oj the American Soci- 
ety for Scientific Research ; Member of the 
Society for Psychical Research, London, etc. 




BOSTON 

HERBERT B. TURNER & CO. 

1907 



*\ 



Copyright, igo? ^gV > 

By Herbert B. Turner & Co. V * ^\) 






V°,\ 



\ 



OS 






COLONIAL PRESS 

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds &" Co. 

Boston, U.S. A. 



DEDICATED TO 

JHfeg $ltlzn aiKtltrman 

WHOSE AVERSION TO ALL THAT IS FRAUDULENT AND WHOSE 
LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GENUINE INSPIRED THE AUTHOR'S 
EFFORTS TO PRESENT, WITH EQUAL FAIRNESS, 
THE FACTS AND ARGUMENTS CON- 
TAINED IN BOTH PORTIONS 
OF THIS VOLUME 



PREFACE 

One or two words of a prefatory nature are necessitated 
by the publication of a book such as this. Many persons 
will doubtless consider it an unnecessary attack upon spirit- 
ualism and the spiritistic creed, but I beg to assure my 
readers that such is by no means the case. It is because I 
believe that such phenomena do occasionally occur, that I am 
anxious to expose the fraud connected with the subject, — 
since it is only by so doing that we can ever hope to reach 
the genuine phenomena which are to be studied. " Caution " 
is the most important factor in the investigation of all psychic 
and spiritualistic phenomena, and a knowledge of the fraudu- 
lent methods employed by mediums is of prime importance 
to the investigator of these problems. 

The investigations of the Society for Psychical Research 
(hereinafter referred to, in this book, as the S. P. R.) have 
demonstrated the fact that supernormal phenomena do occur ; 
but whether the " physical phenomena " are to be considered 
as such is a question that remains still undecided. Certain 
it is that much fraud exists in the production of spurious 
" marvels " of the kind, and the chief object of this book is 
to expose in full the methods that are employed in fraudu- 
lently reproducing the genuine phenomena — if genuine 
phenomena there be. 

I have quoted extensively throughout from books on 
sleight-of-hand, — since works of this character are not 
read as a rule by the public — even the interested public ; 
and especially from a work entitled The Revelations of a 
Spirit Medium, which contains much valuable information, 
but which is now practically unobtainable, owing to the fact 
that a certain number of spiritualists (with a genuine love 



viii Preface 

for truth!) bought up and destroyed all the copies of this 
book — together with the plates — so that, unless one should 
be fortunate enough to possess a copy, it is unlikely that 
the book will ever make its way into the investigator's hands, 
and hence the contents be lost to the reading public forever. 
I make this my excuse for quoting from the book at greater 
length than is customary in such cases. 

One word as to the arrangement of this book. Because it 
is divided so sharply into two sections — " The Fraudulent " 
and " The Genuine " — I do not thereby intend to assert 
dogmatically that all the phenomena mentioned in the first 
part are fraudulent, nor that all the cases quoted in the 
second part are genuine. My reason for dividing the book 
in this manner is to make (so far as the evidence seems to 
warrant) a tentative division of the phenomena into two 
classes — without thereby committing myself to belief, for 
or against, in either case — which question must be settled 
by the actual facts, in any event. The division is merely 
tentative, and made with the object of simplifying and clari- 
fying the problem, which is, at best, highly complex. 

I wish to hereby acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor 
James H. Hyslop, to Miss Louise W. Kops, and to my 
publisher, Mr. Herbert B. Turner, for much valuable assist- 
ance in the preparation of this work. 

H. c. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Preface vii 

Glossary xiii 

PART I— The Fraudulent 

I. The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism ... 3 

II. The Slade - Zollner Investigation .... 19 

III. The Psychology of Deception 48 

IV. Table - turning and Table - lifting .... 64 

V. Raps 77 

VI. Slate -writing Tests 84 

§ 1. Methods with a Single Slate (Prepared) . . 91 

§ 2. Methods with a Single Slate (Unprepared) . . 102 

§ 3. Methods with a Double Slate (Prepared) . . 118 

§ 4. Methods with a Double Slate (Unprepared) . . 127 

§ 5. Miscellaneous Tests 138 

VII. Rope -tying Tests 143 

VIII. "Splrit" Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, Etc. . . . 168 

IX. Holding Tests 186 

X. Miscellaneous Physical Tests 196 

XI. Spirit - photography 206 

XII. The Paraffine Mould Test 224 

XIII. Materialization 230 

XIV. Materialization (continued) 255 

XV. Sealed -letter Reading 276 

XVI. Mind -reading Performances 291 

XVII. Trance, "Test Seances," Etc 312 

PART II— The Genuine 

XVIII. General Observations 321 

XIX. Raps 340 

XX. Telekinesis 358 

XXI. The Mediumship of D. D. Home : 

§ 1. Miscellaneous Phenomena 372 

§ 2. The Levitation 377 

ix 



x Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

§ 3. Elongation 394 

§ 4. The " Fire Tests " 399 

XXII. Trance — The Case of Mrs. Piper 410 

XXIII. Summary and Conclusion 415 

Index 419 



Physical Phenomena 



GLOSSARY 

Automatism. Self-moved, automatic. An " automatism " generally 
signifies a movement made without conscious thought and will on the 
part of the person by whom such movement is made. 

Clairvoyance. Literally " Clear Seeing." It signifies the supposed 
power, possessed by some persons, of viewing distant scenes as though 
present in the body ; or of beholding objects invisible to the normal 
eyesight. 

Crystal -Gazing. The act of looking into a crystal glass ball, or other 
speculum, or reflecting surface, with the object of inducing hallucina- 
tory pictures. The person doing so is called a seer or scryer. The 
pictures, of course, exist in the mind and not in the crystal. 

Levitation. A raising of objects from the ground by supposed supernor- 
mal means. 

Premonition. A supernormal indication of any kind of event still in the 
future. 

Parakinesis. The production of physical movements where the contact 
observed is insufficient to account for them. 

Poltergeist. Literally, " Noisy Spirit." A house is said to be haunted 
by a poltergeist when bells are rung, furniture upset, crockery broken, 
etc., by no apparent, normal means. 

Retrocognition. Knowledge of the past, supernormally acquired. 

Subliminal. Of thoughts, feelings, etc., lying beneath the ordinary 
threshold (limen) of consciousness, — as opposed to supraliminal, 
lying above the threshold. 

Supernormal. Beyond the level of ordinary experience, — supplanting 
the word " supernatural," which is held to be meaningless. 

Telekinesis. The alleged supernormal movements of objects, not due 
to any known force. 

Telepathy. The commimication of impressions of any kind from one 
mind to another, independently of the recognized channels of sense. 

Tel^esthesia. Perception at a distance. Practically the same as clair- 
voyance. 

Telurgy. A name for a hypothetical force or mode of action, concerned 
with the conveyance of telepathic impressions, and perhaps with other 
supernormal operation. 



xui 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



To face page 

Obtaining Knots in Endless Cords 44 

Obtaining Knots in Endless Cords (another method) ... 46 

Trick-slates and Slate Manipulation 104 

Rope-ties, Sacks, and Handcuffs 164 

Releasing Hand from the Finger-hold 188 

Releasing Hand from the Wrist-hold 190 

Dr. Hodgson's Experimental Photograph 212 

Imitation Spirit-photograph 214 

SpraiT-PHOTo — Showing Marks of Manipulation .... 216 

Alleged Spirit-photo— Containing Various Items of Interest 218 

Trick-envelopes and Sealed-letter Tests 284 



PART I 
THE FRAUDULENT 



THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA 
OF SPIRITUALISM 

CHAPTER I 

THE PHYSICAL PHENOMENA OF SPIRITUALISM 

At the outset of our discussion, it is necessary that the 
terms used should be distinctly understood by the reader, and 
I must begin by calling attention to the difference between 
" spiritualism " and " spiritism," — which terms are made 
convertible in the minds of most persons. The word " spir- 
itualism " is really a philosophic term, meaning the opposite 
of materialism, and hence, strictly speaking, every one who 
is not a materialist is a spiritualist — but not necessarily a 
spiritist. The term " spiritism " means the communication 
of the living with the spirits of the departed — usually 
through an intermediary termed a " medium." Thus, a 
spiritist means one who believes that it is not only possible, 
but that it is an actual fact, that we can get into communica- 
tion with the spirits of the departed at seances, and at various 
other times, spontaneously. As a matter of fact, however, 
these distinctions are not preserved in the public mind, and 
the word " spiritualism " is used as synonymous with " spirit- 
ism." Hence, it is in this popular meaning of the term that 
the word is used throughout this book — the expression, 
" Modern Spiritualism " having become too deeply rooted 
in the language to be easily changed. It is accordingly 
treated, throughout this book, as implying spiritism, when 

3 



4 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the term " spiritualism " is used, — unless it is otherwise 
stated. 

Spiritualism, in the pure sense, has, of course, existed 
from the very earliest times. A most interesting resume 
of the beliefs of various ancient nations on this subject will 
be found in Elbe's Future Life in the Light of Ancient Wis- 
dom and Modern Science. 1 " Modern Spiritualism," on 
the other hand, did not come into existence until 1847, when 
the " Rochester Knockings " startled the world, and founded 
a new era in the world's religious thought. The antecedents 
of spiritualism were, as Podmore clearly shows, 2 the so-called 
" poltergeist " cases, on the one hand, and the early mes- 
merists, with their " clairvoyant " and " ecstatic " cases, on 
the other. These " poltergeist " cases I have briefly referred 
to on pp. 361-3 ; while a full account and discussion of the 
mesmeric side of the question will be found in Podmore's book, 
above referred to, Moll's Hypnotism, Braid's Hypnotism, 
and many other works of a kindred nature, in which the 
historic side of that question is thoroughly discussed. 

It will now be seen that, if the definition of spiritualism 
given above is the true one (and I think it may be con- 
sidered so — one of the representative spiritualists writing : 
" By spiritism is meant a connection, or intercourse with the 
spiritual world" 3 ), the theory and the philosophy of the 
belief have nothing whatever to do with physical phenomena 
— which, theoretically, belong to a different category alto- 
gether. Physical phenomena take place in, and belong to, 
the material world, and have nothing to do with communica- 
tion with a spirit-world. Many persons, seeing unaccount- 
able physical phenomena happening in their presence, are 
apt to attribute these movements or phenomena to the action 
of spirits — especially if intelligence is connected with the 
phenomena. They may or they may not be so caused, but 
the point to bear in mind is that, whether the explanation 



1 V. also Howitt, History of the Supernatural ; Ennermoser, History of 
Magic; Thompson, Proofs of Life after Death, etc. 
2 Modern Spiritualism. 2 vols. 
8 Spiritism, by Edelweiss, p. 54. 



The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 5 

of these phenomena be spiritistic or physical, or whether they 
are ultimately shown to be nothing more than the results of 
fraud, that would not in the least influence the evidence for 
the existence of the spirit-world, — which evidence is obtained 
from mental and other tests, and hence their disproof would 
in no wise influence the central problem of spiritualism, — 
which is, as stated, the possibility of communication with the 
spirit-world, under certain circumstances and conditions. It 
is important that these facts should be kept carefully in mind, 
since it is necessary to impress upon the popular con- 
sciousness the fact that, even should the whole of the physical 
phenomena of spiritualism turn out to be nothing but fraud- 
ulent, it would in no wise influence the real 'problem at issue; 
the " real problem " yet remains, being altogether inde- 
pendent of the evidence afforded by the physical phenomena. 
It is evident, therefore, that I cannot discuss at any 
length the " real problems " connected with spiritualism 
— the scientific proof of life after death — in a volume 
such as this. I have briefly discussed this evidence on 
pp. 410-14, and there referred to those passages in other 
books and publications where the evidence will be found very 
fully discussed. The object of the present volume is, of 
course, to consider those physical phenomena which — 
rightly or wrongly — have been attributed to spirit agency 
by thousands of persons who have witnessed them: to con- 
sider their character, the historical evidence in their favor, 
as well as that which tends to show that all these phenomena 
are the results of fraud, and are seldom or never genuine in 
character; and, finally, to show the actual methods that are 
employed by fraudulent mediums in producing the phenom- 
ena by that means. I hope that, by describing the actual 
methods in considerable detail, I shall, in some degree, fill 
a gap in the history of the subject, which has too long 
stood empty. My book differs from that of Mr. Podmore 
in that he showed, in that work, how certain phenomena 
might have been produced, on certain historical occasions; 
while I have confined myself, almost entirely, to showing how 
these phenomena actually are done on a great number of 



6 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

occasions — from which the reader may, if he choose, draw 
his own conclusions about the possibility of the historic phe- 
nomena having been done in the manner described, or in some 
very similar manner. I have undertaken to criticize, in some 
detail, one or two of the most famous historical cases (pp. 19- 
47), but have confined myself entirely to the description of 
the fraudulent methods employed, a task for which I am, per- 
haps, because of long training in these lines, entitled to dis- 
cuss most fully. In the present volume, therefore, the prime 
object has been, throughout, to give a clear and a detailed 
description of the methods employed by fraudulent mediums ; 
and it is hoped that this part of the work will be of assistance 
to the investigator by placing him on his guard against 
the various methods by which the medium usually tricks his 
unwary sitters. 

Turning, now, for the moment, to the historical side of 
this question, we find that there is scarcety a medium pro- 
ducing physical phenomena who has not, at one time or an- 
other, been exposed in the grossest kind of fraud, and that 
the whole history of the sub j ect — so far as the physical 
phenomena are concerned — is bespattered with evidences of 
fraud, and the worst " moral mud " and intellectual mire im- 
aginable ! It presents an almost unbroken chain of evidence, 
showing that fraud and nothing but fraud has been prac- 
tised throughout, by mediums ; and presenting scarcely any 
evidence whatever that they are ever genuine, or did really 
happen, as stated. Mr. Podmore's book, so often quoted, 
may be referred to, in proof of these assertions. We find 
that, in practically all cases that have been recorded, fraud 
has afterward been proved to exist; or the nature of the 
evidence is such as to strongly suggest that fraud was em- 
ployed, — only undetected. Let us glance, very briefly, at 
a few of the historical cases, by way of illustrating the 
statements here made. 

To go back to the historic cases of " clairvoyance," it is 
certain that the evidence is, in almost all of these cases, most 
defective, and that the experiments were conducted under con- 
ditions which the average psychical researcher of to-day would 



The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 7 

deem anything but " good conditions " — the natural igno- 
rance of the laws of conscious and unconscious suggestion 
frequently discrediting the cases — as affording any evidence 
for the supernormal. " Burdin, a member of the Academy 
(of Medicine) offered a prize of three thousand francs to 
any one who could read without the use of the eyes. The 
offer was open for two years and subsequently the time was 
extended. Considering the large number who had claimed 
this power, few offered themselves for examination; and 
these either clearly failed to meet the test (being detected 
in the manipulation of the bandage, and the like), or those 
who had the somnambulists in charge refused to conform to 
the conditions required by the examiners; and so the prize 
was never awarded." x 

Doctor Hodgson, a man who has done more than any 
other in the detection and exposure of fraudulent mediums, 
conclusively proved that it is almost an impossibility to 
blindfold a shrewd person so that he cannot see a little from 
under the bandage. 2 As this very limited amount of vision 
was all that was required, in the vast majority of cases, it 
is certain that the evidence for these cases is slight indeed, 
the testimony of the Seybert Commission going far to 
prove the statements here made. 3 

Those mediums who undertook to read sealed letters, etc., 
have all been detected in fraud at one time or another ; while 
the great number of methods that could be employed, in 
order to deceive the sitter, would render it next to impossible 
for him to detect the method employed, — unless well in- 
formed of the possibilities of fraud in this particular field. 
The medium who gained the greatest reputation in this line 
was Charles H. Foster, a full account of whose life and 
doings will be found in a book entitled The Salem Seer, by 
George C. Bartlett. Though the author of this book is evi- 
dently a firm believer in the powers of Mr. Foster, it may 
be said that the cases he narrates are very easy to explain 

1 Fact and Fable in Psychology, p. 205. 

2 Journal S. P. R., Voi. I., pp. 84-6. 

3 Report, pp. 128-47. 



8 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

as the result of trickery with one or two exceptions. The 
accounts of seances held with Foster, printed in Owen's 
Debatable Land, pp. 386-390, 443-7, are again anything 
but convincing, and clearly show that, although Mr. Owen 
was doubtless a clever man and a fine collector of evidence 
for the supernormal, he was anything but a good ob- 
server. 

That Foster was an impostor there can be no doubt. A 
careful perusal of many of the reports of seances strongly 
suggests this, in the first place; and when we read the 
accounts of the seances held with him by John W. Truesdell 
there can remain no doubt in the average person's mind that 
Foster was nothing more than a clever trickster. Mr. Trues- 
dell was, in fact, enabled to see the actual method that Foster 
employed, in reading his sitter's ballot, under his very nose, 
and thus interestingly describes the process in his Spiritual- 
ism, Bottom Facts, pp. 137-8 : 

" I had noticed at each interview that Mr. Foster, who is 
an inveterate smoker, had a great deal of trouble to keep 
his cigar alight. Half a dozen times, during each sitting, he 
would strike a match, and, holding it in a peculiar manner, 
as if he was in the open air, where a strong wind was blow- 
ing, would take a whiff or two, and then allow the cigar to 
go out again. After carefully comparing notes with several 
reliable persons, who had held seances with the same medium, 
I came to the conclusion, deducted from their experience as 
well as my own, that Mr. Foster invariably changed the bal- 
lots, and that, while the duplicate blanks lay upon the table 
before his victims, and he was engaged in the troublesome 
task of relighting his cigar, he was, at the same time, read- 
ing, by the aid of the very match so carelessly employed, an 
open ballot held in the palm of his right hand ! " 

Mr. Truesdell then goes on to describe how, suspecting 
the manner that Foster accomplished this test, he, at the next 
sitting, suddenly seized the five ballots lying on the table 
before him, and found every one of them to be a blank — 
though they were, of course, supposed to be the ones con- 
taining the questions his sitter had written on the pellets. 



The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 9 

That the ballots had been substituted was, therefore, clear. 
Apparently, Foster then broke down and confessed the whole 
trick, 1 as Slade did at a later date (p. 23). 

I have referred thus at length to the case of Foster be- 
cause I do not remember having read an expose of this me- 
dium's operations, outside of Truesdell's book — which is now 
out of print and scarce. Moreover, the " ballot test " is 
one very frequently employed by mediums to-day, and it is 
as well to point out the fact that the medium who gained 
the reputation of being the greatest medium in the world, 
in this particular line, was a fraud ! Various other methods 
of reading ballots, sealed letters, etc., will be found on 
pp. 276-90. 

There can be no doubt, then, that the history of spiritual- 
ism is saturated with fraud, and that the vast majority of 
the phenomena obtained through mediums are fraudulent in 
character. A very fine resume of the credulity on the one 
hand, and knavish trickery on the other (so common a few 
years ago), will be found in Mr. F. W. H. Myers's paper on 
" Resolute Credulity," in Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XL, 
pp. 213-34. There is also a very interesting article on 
" Spurious Mediumship " in Journal S. P. R., Vol. III., pp. 
199-207. The net result of the investigations conducted by 
the Society for Psychical Research was to produce the con- 
viction that no results obtained through professional mediums 
were to be trusted, so long as the conditions rendered fraud 
possible; and, further, that practically all professional 
mediums are frauds ! " There does not exist, and there never 
has existed, a professional medium of any note who has not 
been convicted of trickery or fraud," says J. N. Maskelyne. 2 
And, in case Mr. Maskelyne may be considered a preju- 
diced witness in such matters, it may be stated that the Amer- 
ican S. P. R. was unable to find any medium who could pro- 
duce satisfactory phenomena under test conditions, and stated 
that " it is, in their opinion, inadvisable to undertake further £, 
investigation in regard to professional paid materializing 
mediums, inasmuch as all the materializing seances yet at- 
1 Bottom Facts, pp. 140-1. 2 The Supernatural? p. 183. 



10 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

tended by them have been held under conditions which ren- 
dered any scientific investigation impossible." 1 A very fine 
letter on " Professional Mediumship " — which is of much 
interest from the psychological point of view — will be found 
in the Journal S. P. R., Vol. III., pp. 120-8. But the 
most convincing testimony, in this direction, is that supplied 
by the author of The Revelations of a Spirit Medium, — 
who, after all the actual contact he must have had with 
mediums, as one of them, can write : " Of all the mediums 
he (the author) has met, in eighteen years, and that means 
^a great many, in all phases, he has never met one that was 
not sailing the very same description of craft as himself. 
Every one; no exception" (p. 95). And on p. 322 occurs 
the following sentence: 

"... His own career and the fact that he has met no 

other professional medium, male or female, in his long expe- 

* rience and extensive travels, who were not ' crooked,' leads 

him to the conclusion that, from the professional, you are 

to expect nothing genuine." 

Whether these statements are accepted as true or not, cer- 
tain it is that the history of the physical phenomena of spir- 
itualism bears them out to a remarkable degree. Especially 
is this obvious whenever the mediums came into contact with 
members of the S. P. R. ; when more exact conditions and 
careful " tests " were insisted upon. It may almost be said 
that the S. P. R. has never succeeded in obtaining evidence for 
a single genuine physical phenomenon in its whole career, 
while the number of fraudulent mediums it has unearthed is 
amazing! They have been no more successful in their day 
than the Seybert Commission was in its — and it is certainly 
a suspicious fact that, so soon as strict and reliable " tests " 
are insisted upon, and no opportunity given the medium 
to produce the phenomena by fraudulent means, the phe- 
nomena altogether cease! The inadequacy of the tests upon 
which the average spiritualist was wont to rely has now 
clearly been proved ; and, if no phenomena are ever forth- 
coming, under conditions that would preclude the possibility 
1 Amer. Proceedings S. P. R., p. 230. 



The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 11 

of fraud, the physical phenomena of spiritualism must always 
rest under the cloud of the blackest suspicion. 

The newer evidence, indeed, is precisely on a par with the 
old, the same uncertainty being present. Let us take, for 
example, the case of Eusapia Paladino. 

I cannot now stop to consider at length the history of 
the Paladino case — interesting as that case is, in more than 
one respect: a very brief resume must here suffice. (For a 
detailed account of this medium's career, v. Podmore's Mod- 
em Spiritualism, Vol. II., pp. 198-203, etc.) This medium, 
Eusapia Paladino, has been investigated almost entirely by 
European savants, — no Americans nor Englishmen having 
had an opportunity to observe the phenomena occurring in 
her presence, except in the " Cambridge Sittings," to be 
mentioned presently. Outside of the S. P. It. investigations, 
this medium's career has been one of almost uninterrupted 
triumph. She succeeded in convincing the Continental sa- 
vants who investigated her powers, that genuine phenomena 
were produced in her presence, and I think I am right in 
asserting that the majority of them still continue to think 
so — despite the supposed exposure at Cambridge. The 
majority of the reports are to be found in the Annates des 
Sciences Psychiques; a review of M. Richet's " Notes," 
" Experiences de Milan," and the " Milan Commission " 
will be found in Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IX., pp. 218- 
25. The phenomena occurring in this medium's presence 
were most striking — mostly telekinetic phenomena of a re- 
markable type, apparently — and baffled all those who wit- 
nessed them ; nor could they, in any way, account for them 
by fraud. So important did the S. P. R. and the Continental 
scientists consider this case, indeed, that M. Richet invited \ 
Professor Oliver J. Lodge, Mr. Myers, and Professor J. < 
Ochorowicz (the author of a very remarkable work on 
Mental Suggestion, among others) to visit him at his own 
house, on the lie Roubaud, a small island in the Mediter- 
ranean. On this lonely island, a new series of experiments 
was conducted, the net result of which was to convince all 
those present of the reality of the phenomena. A full Report, 



12 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

of these sittings was afterward printed in the Journal 
S. P. R. 9 Vol. VI., pp. 306-60 ; and very extraordinary they 
appear. Doctor Hodgson, however, " returned to the 
charge," and, in a very remarkable paper, published in the 
Journal, Vol. VII., pp. 36-55, he pointed out what he con- 
sidered many defects in the evidence, and asserted that the 
whole of the phenomena were probably due to fraud and fraud 
alone. His criticism of the Reports is detailed and, as stated, 
very remarkable. It brought forth replies from the four in- 
vestigators whose Reports were criticized — Messrs. Myers, 
Lodge, Richet, and Ochorowicz all replying in detail to 
Doctor Hodgson's criticisms (pp. 55-79). The replies did 
not convince Doctor Hodgson, however, who still contended 
that fraud was practised, and that the Reports published 
were not convincing. A discussion ensued, the outcome of 
which was that Doctor Hodgson went to England, and there 
took part in the famous " Cambridge Sittings." In these, 
Doctor Hodgson succeeded in discovering the manner in 
which the medium was in the habit of releasing one of her 
hands ; and showed that — so far as that series of sittings 
went, at any rate — fraud and trickery were practised, and 
was thus enabled to account for all the phenomena then wit- 
nessed. " Mr. and Mrs. Myers, Miss Johnson, Mrs. Sidg- 
wick, and myself (Professor Sidgwick), as well as Doctor 
Hodgson, unanimously adopted the conclusion that nothing 
but trickery had been at work in the Cambridge series of 
experiments." * 

The S. P. R. consequently decided to " drop " Eusapia, 
and to have nothing more to do with her. She had been 
detected in trickery, and, according to the standards of the 
Society, that was enough to condemn her from future pub- 
licity, so far as they were concerned. In one sense, this is 
a very wise course to pursue, since the eyes of the scientific 
world are centred on the S. P. R., and it is impossible for 
them to make any exception to their high standards of evi- 
dence, without damaging their reputation, as a scientific 
society. On the other hand, this course was a very unfor- 
1 Journal, Vol. VII., p. 159. 



The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 13 

tunate one, since the Continental investigators, convinced that 
the medium did not always practise fraud of the kind dis- 
covered by Doctor Hodgson, continued their researches, and 
(apparently) showed that phenomena were produced when 
trickery was not possible — at least trickery of the sort 
Doctor Hodgson detected. So strong was this new evidence, 
indeed, that Mr. Myers and Professor Lodge retracted their 
former beliefs, and became more than ever convinced that 
supernormal phenomena did occasionally happen in Eusa- 
pia's presence, while perfectly willing to admit that fraud 
had been practised at Cambridge, and would account for all 
the phenomena there witnessed. 1 The Continental observers 
were also convinced anew that supernormal phenomena oc- 
curred in Eusapia's presence. 

A lengthy criticism of the Hodgson (Cambridge) sittings 
is to be found in Doctor Maxwell's Metapsychical Phenomena, 
in which he states that Doctor Hodgson discovered nothing 
that was not already known to the Continental savants; but 
that his " explanation " had been found by them inadequate 
to cover all the facts. He criticizes the position of the S. P. R. 
with some bitterness, and ends by asserting that, " My 
testimony contradicts formally and explicitly the conclusions 
of the Cambridge investigators. Eusapia does not always 
defraud; with us, she rarely defrauded" (p. 417). When 
this book was reviewed for the Proceedings, Miss Johnson 
added an editorial " Note," replying to some of Doctor Max- 
well's criticisms, and pointed out that it was only after the me- 
dium has refused to submit to any of the conditions proposed, 
that they adopted the course they did (of allowing her " free 
play," so to speak, and catching her in the act of producing 
the phenomena fraudulently, — rather than controlling her 
so that their production was impossible), and this course was 
pursued because of the fraud they felt was being prac- 
tised. 2 

And thus the matter stands — one-half of the world con- 
vinced that Eusapia is a fraud, and the other half convinced 
that the phenomena witnessed in her presence are genuine! 
1 Journal, Vol. IX., p. 35. 2 Proceedings, Vol. XVIII., p. 501. 



14 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

What the ultimate verdict will be it is hard to foresee, but 
it is certain that the case, as it stands, is not convincing to 
the scientific world, and fresh evidence must be forthcoming 
if the case is ever to be decided in her favor. If Eusapia 
possesses genuine mediumistic gifts, it ought only to be a 
matter of time and sufficiently careful experimenting in order 
to establish that fact. 

It is unnecessary for me to consider the evidence for the 
supernormal in the case of William Stainton Moses, — for 
the reason that this survey work has already been done with 
admirable care and discretion by Mr. Myers and Mr. Pod- 
more, the one arguing for the genuineness of the phenom- 
ena, the other against their reality — or at least against 
any interpretation of them which would render it necessary 
to suppose any supernormal powers at work. 1 

Briefly, the case is this: A minister, a teacher in one of 
London's largest public schools, a gentleman of refinement 
in every way, suddenly finds himself gifted with remarkable 
qualities which he discovers are mediumistic in character, — 
though he has never taken any interest in the subject hereto- 
fore — except, indeed, to be rather annoyed and bored by it ! 
The phenomena occurring in his presence were, inter alia, 
telekinesis, " apports," levitation, musical sounds, lights, — 
in fact, practically the whole range of mediumistic phenom- 
ena. If these phenomena were genuine, his is undoubtedly 
the most remarkable case on record. Unfortunately, it can 
now never be settled whether they were genuine or not, for 
the reason that Mr. Moses shrank from all publicity in the 
matter, allowing none to attend his seances but a few per- 
sonal friends, and refusing to submit to any " test con- 
ditions," such as were imposed on public mediums. Certainly 
Mr. Moses did not produce the phenomena in the usual 

1 See Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IX., pp. 245-354, and Vol. XL, pp. 
24-114; Studies in Psychical Research, pp. 116-33; Podmore's Modern 
Spiritualism, Vol. II,, pp. 280-8; Journal S, P. R., passim; Spirit Teach- 
ings ; Spirit Identity ; Lilley's Modern Mystics and Modern Magic ; 
Human Personality, Vol. II., pp, 223-37, 540-1, 546-9, 551-4, 583-7, etc. 
The case will be found discussed at great length in the above mentioned 
works. 



The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 15 

fraudulent manner — his social position, both public and 
private, forbids our considering such a thing for a moment. 
His object was certainly not notoriety, for the full accounts 
of his seances were never published during his lifetime, but 
were edited and published by Mr. Myers after his death. If 
he had sought notoriety, he certainly would have publicly 
proclaimed his mediumship, and published an account of his 
seances during his life; and that is the only conceivable rea- 
son for producing the phenomena by fraud — if they were 
so produced. Mr. Moses' private character had always been 
irreproachable and he was beloved by all who knew him. 
There is, of course, the possibility that the sitters, and the 
medium, too, were hallucinated at some of these seances ; but 
then again the nature of the evidence prevents us from ac- 
cepting this as the true explanation of phenomena that oc- 
curred. The case is a most baffling one, and deserves the 
reader's careful perusal. As Andrew Lang said, the choice 
of beliefs is between " the moral and the physical miracle," 
and, like him, " I can accept neither " — I am content to 
have no explanation at all. I cannot conceive that the phe- 
nomena were fraudulently produced by Mr. Moses ; and, on 
the other hand, I cannot conceive that the phenomena were 
genuine! The value of the evidence in the case must be 
estimated by each individual for himself; it proves nothing 
to those who do not know Mr. Moses, or the phenomena, 
for the simple reason that no " test conditions " were ever 
allowed to be imposed upon the medium. There the matter 
stands. 

I wish to add a few words to clear away, if possible, the 
great misunderstandings that exist in the public mind as to 
the relations of the S. P. R. and the Theosophical Society. 
It must be understood that, although the present relations 
of the two societies are anything but pleasant and friendly, 
they were not always so by any means — quite the con- 
trary. Colonel Olcott clearly shows in his Old Diary Leaves 
that Mme. Blavatsky was at one time a sincere spiritualist 
(or at least sincerely interested in the subject), and was in 



16 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

close touch with the S. P. R. during its early progress. Mr. 
Sinnett, Doctor Hartmann, and others were, in fact, mem- 
bers of the Society, and in hearty sympathy with its general 
aims and methods. The first Report issued by the Society 
was, if anything, most favorable in its tone, — rather assum- 
ing the genuineness of the phenomena recorded — pointing 
out the close relation and correspondence of these phenomena 
with apparitions and other kindred phenomena which the 
Society was investigating; and, while the Report was en- 
tirely unbiassed one way or the other, it inclined to the atti- 
tude of belief rather than to that of skepticism. This Report 
was privately printed for circulation among members of the 
Society, however, and is now quite out of print and unobtain- 
able. The point I wish to make clear is that the initial atti- 
tude of the Society toward the recorded phenomena was 
that of scrupulous fairness and impartiality. 

Their sincerity should be apparent from the very fact of 
their sending Doctor Hodgson to India to investigate the 
phenomena at first hand, for it is hardly likely that they 
would have done so if they had thought the phenomena any- 
thing but of the very greatest importance. Doctor Hodg- 
son spent three months in India, investigating these reported 
phenomena with the greatest care, at first hand, and it was 
his entirely unfavorable and smashing Report that made the 
S. P. R. change its attitude toward the phenomena, and pro- 
claim its belief that they were nothing but cleverly devised 
tricks, the supposed phenomena being produced by trickery 
from start to finish. The detailed Report may be read in 
full in Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. III., pp. 201-400. I would 
refer my readers to that Report for all particulars. Natu- 
rally, this caused a great stir in the ranks of the Theoso- 
phists. Mr. Sinnett resigned from the S. P. R., and wrote a 
pamphlet, The Occult World Phenomena and the Society for 
Psychical Research, in which he attacked the Report fiercely, 
and was backed up by Mrs. Annie Besant, and other Theoso- 
phists of less note. This called forth a reply from Doctor 
Hodgson, in which he reviewed these criticisms, and, to the 
mind of most persons (not Theosophists), literally tore them 



The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 17 

to pieces. His paper, " The Defence of the Theo sophists," 
will be found in Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IX., pp. 129-59. 
This article was never answered satisfactorily by any Theoso- 
phist, and there the S. P. R. let the matter drop, feeling 
that any further evidence of fraud was unnecessary, and re- 
fused to occupy itself any longer with phenomena that had 
long ago been shown to be fraudulent. 

I say the Society let the matter rest there. Other individ- 
uals, however, continued to publish damning evidence, which 
completed the story, so far as the phenomena were concerned. 
This evidence will be found in The Religio -Philosophical 
Journal (Aug. 10 - Sept. 7, 1889); A Modern Priestess 
of Isis, by V. S. SolovyoiF; I sis Very Much Unveiled, by 
Edmund Garrett, and other publications. These conclusively 
prove to any sane mind, it seems to me, that the phenomena 
obtained in Mme. Blavatsky's presence, in India, were fraud 
and nothing but fraud. 1 

Now, the point I wish to impress particularly upon my 
reader is this: That the S. P. R. has no quarrel whatever 
with the Theosophical Society, except in regard to the phe- 
nomena. The " philosophy of Theosophy," so to speak, 
may be true or false — that is of no interest to the Society, 
and it has never concerned itself with it. The attack of the 
S. P. R. was levelled entirely against the phenomena observed, 
and not at all against the philosophical system that Theos- 
ophy taught ; and that is the fact which the public has never, 
apparently, grasped. The phenomena and the philosophy 
must be kept strictly separate, and the man-in-the-street may 
accept every word of the Society's Report as truth, and yet 
continue to believe in the philosophy. To be sure, it would 
be very illogical for him to do so, since the philosophy is, 

I I suggested what seemed to me a possible explanation of some of the 
" Mahatma Miracles "in a magazine devoted to the interests of the con- 
juring fraternity, entitled Mahatma (Vol. Ill,, No, 3), part of my criti- 
cism being quoted in an article in The Cosmopolitan Magazine for Decem- 
ber, 1899. I had not at that time read Doctor Hodgson's Report in the 
Proceedings ; when I had done so I saw that my (hypnotic) explanation 
was not needed — simple trickery accounting for the whole of the ob- 
served phenomena. I now beg to withdraw, consequently, the explana- 
tion I there put forward, and to state that I no longer consider it the 
correct one. 



18 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

in a sense, inseparably bound up with the phenomena, and 
dependent upon them; but, nevertheless, he would be quite 
at liberty to believe it if he saw fit. The position of the 
average person, who has carefully studied the evidence in 
the case, will probably be well summed up in the following 
quotation from Doctor Hodgson's paper, in Proceedings, 
Vol. IX., above referred to, which deserves wider publicity. 
It is: 

" In a final word I must remind my readers that I have 
been dealing in this paper, as I have dealt throughout, with 
the phenomena alleged by Madame Blavatsky in support of 
the tenets which she preached, and not with those tenets 
themselves. Of those streams of superhuman knowledge 
I will only say that I prefer to tap them at least one 
stage nearer their fountain-heads. I lay claim to no vast 
erudition. But the sources which were good enough for 
Mme. Blavatsky are good enough for me; and so long as 
Bohn's Classical Library and Triibner's Oriental Library 
are within reach of a modest purse, I shall prefer to draw 
on these useful repertoires for my ideas of Platonic and 
Buddhistic thought, — even though I should thus be obliged 
to receive those ideas in a bald, old-fashioned shape, un- 
spiced with fraudulent marvels, and uncorroborated by the 
forged correspondence of fictitious Teachers of Truth." 



CHAPTER II 

THE SLADE - ZOI/LNER INVESTIGATION 

The whole history of modern spiritualism presents three, 
and only three, cases of remarkable physical manifestations 
such as cannot, very readily, be accounted for by fraud, 
by one or the other of the devices and methods described 
in this book. These three cases present many remarkable 
phenomena, and it is necessary that they should be considered 
in a work of this character at some length. I refer to the 
accounts of phenomena published by Doctor Hare, Professor 
Zollner, and Sir William Crookes. Sir William Crookes's 
experiments will be found noticed at some length on pp. 
872-409. The experiments of Doctor Hare I must also pass 
over with a mere mention, and this for two reasons: first, 
because of lack of space to consider them in the detail that 
would be necessary ; and, second, because they are not really 
worth this detailed examination. I agree with Doctor Hyslop 
in his opinion that " Hare's experiments . . . were not so 
good as Zollner's," 1 and with Mr. Podmore when he wrote, 
" Doctor Hare does not seem to have realized the possibility 
of fraud . . . and the character of his book generally, con- 
sisting as it does largely of dissertations on theology and 
cosmology, founded on spirit revelations, is not such as to in- 
spire confidence in his judgment." 2 While, therefore, I do 
not deny the value of the evidence collected and presented by 
Professor Hare, it will be more profitable for us to examine 
the more scientific and terse accounts of the phenomena wit- 

1 Borderland of Psychical Research, p, 237. 

2 Studies in Psychical Research, p. 49. 

19 



20 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

nessed by Professor Zollner. This I shall accordingly pro- 
ceed to do in some detail — since it is necessary that the chief 
historic phenomena should receive a careful and critical ex- 
amination, in the light of the fraud and possibilities of fraud 
which this book lays bare. 

Zollner's accounts of his seances will be found in his book, 
Transcendental Physics (translated by C. C. Massey), in 
which Professor Zollner, in addition to recording the phenom- 
ena that occurred at the seances, attempted to demonstrate 
his theory of " space of four dimensions." This theory he 
adopted in order to explain the phenomena observed in the 
presence of the medium, and it may be said frankly that that 
is as likely a theory as any other, — provided the facts are 
such, in reality, and not mere frauds. There is nothing 
inherently impossible in the theory ; 1 the only thing lacking 
is the evidence of its reality ! The question, then, before us 
is, as usual, are the phenomena facts, or are they merely 
the simulation of the facts they appear to be ? That can only 
be settled by a careful examination of the evidence in the case 
since we cannot, unfortunately, repeat the phenomena at 
this late date. We can only carefully study the records that 
are left us, and see whether their perusal points to the fact 
that the phenomena observed were genuine, or whether they 
were merely clever tricks ; — the result of the medium having 
deceived the investigator, and caused him to believe that the 
phenomena really occurred, as reported. The medium, in 
this case, was none other than " Dr." Henry Slade ; and we 
must, accordingly, hastily glance at this medium's previous 
history, in order to get a clue to the personality of the man 
we are considering. 

The career of Slade, outside of the Zollner sittings, was 
indeed not creditable. A brief resume of this medium's ex- 
ploits will be found in Podmore's Modern Spiritualism, Vol. 
II., pp. 87-90. The Ray Lankester prosecution, which neces- 
sitated Slade leaving England in a hurry, was a heavy blow 
to his reputation. Mrs. Sidgwick, further, had ten seances 
with Slade, the general net impression of which was to make 
x V. The Seven Follies of Science, by John Phin, pp. 117-25, 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 21 

her feel that " the phenomena are produced by tricks." * 
The investigations of the Seybert Commission were not only 
unsatisfactory — being given under no real " test " condi- 
tions, 2 — but the actual process of reading and answering 
the messages were distinctly seen by the sitters on several 
occasions. " Every step in the process," says the Report, 
pp. 11-12, " we have distinctly seen. In order to seize the 
fragment of pencil without awakening suspicion, while hold- 
ing the slate under the table, the slate is constantly brought 
out to see whether or not the spirits have written an answer. 
By this manoeuvre a double end is attained: First, it creates 
an atmosphere of expectation, and the sitters grow accus- 
tomed to a good deal of motion in the medium's arm that 
holds the slate ; and secondly, by these repeated motions, the 
pencil (which, having been cut out from a slate pencil en- 
closed in wood, is square, and does not roll about awk- 
wardly) is moved by the successive jerks toward the hand 
which holds the slate, and is gradually brought up to within 
grasping distance. The forefinger is then passed over the 
frame of the slate, and it and the thumb seize and hold the 
pencil, and, under cover of some violent convulsive spasms, 
the slate is turned over and the question read. At this point 
it is that the medium shows his nerve; it is the critical in- 
stant, the only one when his eyes are not fastened on his 
sitters. On one occasion, when the question was written 
somewhat illegibly in a back hand, with a very light stroke, 
and close to the upper edge of the slate, the medium had 
to look at it three several times before he could make it 
out. 

" After reading the question, it may be noticed that Doctor 
Slade winks three or four times rapidly ; this may have been 
partly to veil from his visitors the fact that he had been 
looking intently downward, and partly through mental ab- 
straction in devising an answer. He evidently breathes freer 
when this crisis is past." 

But the most conclusive evidence of fraud, in the case 
of Doctor Slade, is probably that furnished by Truesdell, 
1 Proceedings, Vol. IV., p. 56, 2 Report, pp. 56-9. 



22 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

in his Spiritualism, Bottom Facts. Here we read that the 
author detected Slade producing " telekinetic " phenomena 
with his foot (p. 145); that he saw the movements of the 
tendons in Slade's wrists when he (Slade) was doing the 
writing (p. 146) ; that, by purposely leaving a forged letter 
in his overcoat pocket, he thereby deceived Slade — receiving 
messages from the supposedly dead friends and relatives of 
this non-existent person (p. 150-1) ; he tells how he discov- 
. ered a slate in the corner of the medium's seance-room con- 
^ taining a message already written out, waiting for some 
future sitter to receive it (p. 151) ! and how, finally, Slade 
made a full confession to him, evidently stating, under bond 
of secrecy, just how all his manifestations were produced 
(pp. 156-7). This confession is most remarkable and 
apparently little known, though it is not the only one that 
Slade ever made. Mr. Furness stated to the Seybert Com- 
mission (p. 70), that when last he saw Slade in Boston, " he 
eagerly beckoned me to come in, and, as I settled myself in 
a chair, I said to him : ' Well, and how are the old spirits 
coming on? ' Whereupon he laughed and replied, ' Oh, 
pshaw! you never believed in them, did you? ' " 

Going back to Truesdell's exposure of this medium, we 
read that on several occasions Slade's foot was seen in the 
act of producing movements of objects and other phenomena 
under the table (pp. 286-9) ; and, at another time, of how 
the writer shared his bed, and caught Slade in the act of 
producing manifestations of various kinds — including 
touches — with his feet ! When both his legs were held fast 
to the bed, by means of his companion's legs being placed 
across both of them, and his two hands held at the same time, 
no phenomena of any sort followed ! 

%j In relation to the slate-writing phenomena, I cannot re- 
frain from quoting the following passage, which is, to my 
mind, one of the most amusing passages in the whole history 
of the sub j ect — though many funny things have happened 
at the various exposures ! Truesdell had entered Slade's 
seance-room, and found it empty. In one corner he found, 
however, a slate, upon which was a message already pre- 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 23 

pared, as before stated. Picking up this slate, the future 
sitter wrote, under the first message, the words : " Henry ! 
look out for this fellow — he is up to snuff ! Alcinda." 
(This was the name of Slade' s deceased wife.) Soon after 
this the worthy doctor appeared, and the usual seance was 
given. Then came the climax ! After describing the prepa- 
rations for slate- writing, etc., as usual, he goes on: "A mo- 
ment later the table began to tremble violently, and Slade 
appeared much agitated, when we distinctly heard the spirits 
writing upon the slate! The sound was unmistakable; even 
the crossings of the t's and the dottings of the i's could be 
easily distinguished. This was the grandest victory of my 
life ! Inaudibly I exclaimed, ' Eureka ! Eureka ! ' After 
years of fruitless search for proof of the immortality of man, 
at last I had found it ! There we were, face to face, as it 
were, with our spirit friends, communicating with them as in 
earth life, with the unimpeachable testimony of our eyes and 
ears to establish the fact. At the conclusion of the writing, 
the doctor raised the slate and turned it over in a triumphant 
manner, when his eyes fell upon the two messages. He seemed 
appalled ! Had a thunderbolt from heaven fallen at his feet, 
he could not have been more astonished. For several minutes 
he continued to gaze upon the slate in blank amazement — 
then, suddenly turning to me, his countenance livid with 
rage and excitement, he exclaimed, s What does this mean? 
Who has been meddling with this slate? ' ' Spirits,' I coolly 
replied. A moment later this manipulator of unseen forces 
was as mellow as a ripe apple. Fully and freely we conversed 
together for an hour or more upon the all-important subject 
of my visit. If I had heretofore been suspicious of the doctor, 
now every shadow of doubt was expelled! The science of 
spiritualism was more thoroughly discussed between us than 
I had ever before heard it, — the doctor taking especial pains 
to explain to me many of the mysterious methods adopted 
by the spirits in order to reach those who are yet in the phys- 
ical form. . . ." And so on, with delightful irony. Indeed, 
the book is written with such a tremendous amount of veiled 



24 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

sarcasm that many persons doubt if the author really believes 
what he says, or not ! 

It will be seen from all the foregoing, therefore, that the 
previous career of Slade was anything but free from sus- 
picion — actual fraud having been proved against him in 
many instances. Such a record would naturally make us sus- 
pect that such a medium would not be likely to produce gen- 
uine phenomena — at least if there is the least possible loop- 
hole left open by which trickery could be practised. In con- 
sidering the Zollner seances, however, we must not let these 
considerations warp our judgment, for two reasons: partly 
because mediums who produce genuine phenomena on occa- 
sion also cheat at times, if the phenomena fail to occur, — 
as has now been abundantly proved ; and partly because we 
must consider every phenomenon that is presented for our 
consideration, in the domain of psychical research, as though 
it were an isolated phenomenon, independent from any that 
have gone before, or any that are to follow after. Each 
phenomenon must be judged on its own merit, that is; and, 
in the Slade-Zollner investigation, we must accordingly set 
aside all the previous testimony for or against Slade, and 
examine the seances themselves as though they were the only 
ones recorded. The extent to which the previous history 
should influence our minds is this : that, if the opportunity of 
fraud is shown; to exist, and the only bar to the assumption 
that the medium did produce the manifestation in that way 
is the moral objection (as in the Moses case), then we must be 
willing to set that consideration aside, as valueless, and as 
constituting no valid evidence in favor of the genuineness 
of the phenomena. 

I must confine myself to a very brief resume of the experi- 
ments mentioned in the book, and shall choose those which are 
the most extraordinary, and apparently the hardest to ac- 
count for by normal means. At least this will not bring 
upon me the charge of being unfair, in my handling of the 
case, for it may fairly be said that if the most extraordinary 
phenomena can be accounted for and explained (as fraudu- 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 25 

lent), then, surely, the more simple experiments of the same 
order may well be explained in a similar manner. 

The experiments with the slate need not detain us long. 
Slade used the method of writing described on p. 104, beyond 
a doubt — though he often used other methods too. The 
tests described on p. 60, and elsewhere throughout the book, 
are easily explainable by some one of the methods described 
in this volume, and the evidence all goes to show that 
Slade did actually use the methods described. Mr. Carl 
Willmann, a manufacturer of magical apparatus at Ham- 
burg, made a careful examination of Slade's double slate, 
and found that the seals were not by any means in so perfect 
a condition as has been supposed, and aroused strong sus- 
picions that the seals had, in fact, been tampered with. He 
found that while, to a superficial examination, the seals ap- 
peared perfect, yet a closer examination showed the unmis- 
takable evidences of finger-prints, and Mr. Willmann sug- 
gests that the slates were opened by means of a thin, heated 
wire, which was passed under the seals on the slates — the 
seals being afterward replaced. The examination he was 
enabled to make strongly suggested that this was, in fact, 
the method used. An illustration of this process will be 
found in The Old and the New Magic (p. xxvi), where many 
valuable criticisms of these experiments are published, — to 
some of which I shall have occasion to refer later. 

The experiments with the compass are interesting, and, 
while they are not difficult to explain as the result of trickery, 
if we assume a certain amount of malobservation on the part 
of Zollner (which we are entitled to assume, as we shall 
presently see), they are the only ones that would seem to in- 
dicate that Slade did, in reality, possess some supernormal 
power. The experiment tried was the following : 

"... Arrived at my dwelling, my friend asked whether 
I had a compass at hand. I brought a celestial globe in the 
stand, to which a compass was fixed, and placed it on the 
table. At our request, Slade moved his hand horizontally 
across the closely fitted glass cover of the magnet case. The 
needle remained immovable, and I concluded from this that 



26 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Slade had no magnet concealed beneath his skin. On a sec- 
ond trial, which was made immediately afterward, in the 
manner stated, the needle was violently agitated in a way 
which could only be the result of strong magnetic power/' 
(pp. 52-3). On p. 62 Zollner gives an account of some 
experiments in which a knitting-needle was immediately mag- 
netized when placed on a slate — the slate being held under 
the table by Slade " in the usual manner as for writing. " 
(See also the account on p. 50.) 

It is not hard to conceive that Slade had the opportunity 
to exchange this needle for another which was magnetized, 
at the time the slate was held beneath the table; nor that 
Slade carried a magnet about with him after the first day of 
such experiments (when he found out the sort of tests to 
which Zollner intended to subject him), and that he found 
an opportunity to use this magnet to good advantage dur- 
ing the course of the experiment. It may be said, in fairness 
to Slade, however, that this experiment may have been per- 
fectly free from fraud, since the same effects have been ob- 
served elsewhere, apparently, where no professional medium 
was concerned. Reichenbach obtained some very similar 
results with his " sensitives ; " and there is a case recorded in 
the Journal S. P. JR., Vol. I., pp. 254-6, which would seem 
to confirm the results obtained by Zollner. As, however, 
these results have not been duplicated of late years (so far 
as my information goes), and as it is not hard to account 
for the experiments on the basis of trickery, as suggested, 
we must at least hold our judgment in suspense and await 
further details and further experiments before accepting 
these results as in any way scientific facts. 

The only other experiments described that have any sem- 
blance to reality, and are not obviously conjuring tricks, are 
the telekinetic phenomena and the cases of levitation men- 
tioned on pp. 54, 56 9 and pp. 190-1, respectively. In the 
first of these we are told that " a small note-table, fixed to 
a door-post by a movable iron support, began suddenly to 
move, and so violently that the chair standing in front of it 
was thrown down with a great noise. These objects were 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 27 

behind Slade, and at least five feet from him. At the same 
time and at the same distance, a bookcase, loaded with many 
books, was violently agitated." If this phenomenon was not 
genuine (which, in the light of the other tests, we are not 
entitled to think), it is probable that the table and bookcase 
were both moved by a heavy black thread — that device so 
often employed by conjurers to such good effect. The trick, 
as described, would certainly not prohibit this interpretation 
of the facts observed, while the experiments described on p. 
179, 184, and elsewhere, are obviously performed in this 
manner, or by means of the medium's hand or the toes of his 
foot. Truesdell 1 describes a seance in which he himself em- 
ployed this device undetected, and with great success. As 
to the "broken screen incident" (p. 54), — where a strong 
wooden screen was, apparently, wrenched apart in the middle 
of a seance, with a " violent crack," falling in two pieces, 
the screws and other fastenings being wrenched from their 
sockets, — I would ask : what proof have we that this tear- 
ing apart was not done before the seance, and the two parts 
merely tied together by means of a piece of thread, which 
could be pulled off later, allowing the two halves of the screen 
to fall apart as stated? There was plenty of time for Slade 
to " fix " anything he liked before the seance, from all ac- 
counts, and there is nothing in the reports which would forbid 
our assuming that such an interpretation is the right one. 

The levitation case is a little more convincing. It is not 
recorded by Zollner, as it happens, being merely quoted 
by him, in his book. The seance at which this levitation oc- 
curred was one conducted by Herr Schmid (May, 1878). 
The account reads : " When I was sitting a little distance 
from him (Slade), he likewise sitting, he stretched out his 
arm and laid his hand on the back of my chair. All at once 
I was raised, with the chair, swaying in the air about a foot 
high, as if drawn up by a pulley, without any exertion what- 
ever by Slade, who simply raised his hand, the chair follow- 
ing it as if it were a magnet" (p. 190). 

This " test " was doubtless performed in the same manner 
1 Bottom Facts, pp. 197-8. 



28 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

as it was on the occasion when Slade " levitated " Professor 
Fechner. As described, the events are certainly mystifying. 
" However, when we carefully compare Professor Fechner's 
account, we come to the conclusion that the whole proceeding 
is no longer miraculous, but could be repeated by prestidigi- 
tateurs. Fechner states that, at the request of Doctor Slade, 
he himself (Professor Fechner), who was slim and slight, 
took the place of Professor Braune. Doctor Slade turned 
round to Professor Fechner and bore his chair upward in a 
way which is not at all inexplicable by the methods of leger- 
demain. Professor Fechner does not mention that he hovered 
for some time in the air, but it is obvious that Doctor Slade 
made the two professors change seats because he would 
scarcely have had the strength to lift up Professor Braune." 1 
Of the phenomena mentioned many others hardly deserve 
our detailed consideration. The case on pp. 184-5, in 
which Zollner held the medium's hands while certain phenom- 
ena occurred, is certainly a mere variation of the " release " 
described on p. 189. The " accordion test " (pp. 57-8) was 
obviously worked as described on p. 200. (The difference in 
the methods of observing and recording this test adopted by 
Zollner and Crookes should be carefully noted. ) The streams 
of water that appeared out of the atmosphere were obviously 
produced by means of a small pocket syringe, dexterously 
operated by the skilled hand of the medium. The malob- 
servation present in these experiments is patent to any one 
reading the reports carefully. The account of the table 
that vanished from the room of its own accord, and afterward 
descended gracefully from the ceiling ("the hitherto in- 
visible table with its legs turned upwards, very quickly float- 
ing down in the air upon the top of the card-table"), that 
experiment I cannot explain, if it occurred as stated. I have 
strong doubts whether such an event ever transpired, how- 
ever, — either Zollner experiencing a visual hallucination, or 
malobservation and defects in recording have much to answer 
for. Perhaps the explanation is to be found in a combination 
of these two factors. 

1 The Old and the New Magic, pp. xxiv-xxv. 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 29 

In the cases in which coins were abstracted from sealed 
boxes, the experiments are rendered absolutely inconclusive 
by the fact that Slade had every opportunity to duplicate 
these boxes, — having examined them before the crucial 
seance took place (pp. 139, 140-5). It is also conceivable that 
Slade managed to open the sealed boxes themselves, abstract 
the coins, and seal them up again, without detection, — as 
actually happened in the case of the sealed slates (p. 25). 
Slade might have pried up the edge of the seal with a sharp 
pen-knife, cut the string passing round the box under the 
seal, opened the box, abstracted the coins, again closed the 
box, pushed the cut end of the string under the seal, gummed 
it in place, and replaced the seal by slightly melting the 
under surface of the seal, thus pried up, with a heated knife 
blade. The trickery could not be discovered, in such a case, 
unless the seal were pried off, and the box opened. So long 
as the box remained sealed, however, the trickery could never 
be detected. 

The impressions of naked feet, obtained on sooted paper, 
placed on the floor under the table, could easily have been 
done by Slade, and there are strong indications that they 
were produced by him (pp. 67-8, 71, 131-2). It may be 
true that the impression of the foot obtained was shorter 
than that of Slade's foot, but this could have been produced, 
as Zollner himself points out, " by not putting down the heel 
and the fore part of the foot at the same time." Slade 
himself probably made the majority of the impressions in 
this manner. Zollner asserts that he at once examined the 
foot of the medium to see whether any soot or other marks 
were left upon it that would indicate that Slade had done it 
himself, and states that he found none. We must accept the 
statement with extreme caution, however, that Zollner at once 
examined the medium's foot. It is highly improbable that 
he did so, in reality, and it is more than likely that Slade 
had the opportunity to wipe off the telltale marks, and re- 
place his feet in the socks and shoes (low cut) that he wore. 
The examples of malobservation to be referred to presently 
will amply justify our doubting the accuracy of this part of 



30 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the report. In any event, there was nothing to prevent Slade 
from using celluloid impressions, which might have been 
secreted about his person. Mr. Willmann, in his study of the 
Zollner sittings, calls attention to the fact that the foot- 
prints were made from feet whose stockings had been removed 
but a few moments before, for they still showed the meshes 
of the knitting which quickly disappear as soon as the skin 
of the foot grows cold. " Professor Zollner did not see such 
trifles, and yet they are important, even if it were for the 
mere purpose of determining whether the spirits wear stock- 
ings made in Germany or America ! " 

Zollner describes (pp. 102-9) a most remarkable test, in 
which two wooden rings were apparently passed on to the leg 
of a small table, — under conditions which would, from all 
accounts, appear to be quite beyond the bounds of trickery. 
The two rings had first passed through them a piece of cat- 
gut, the ends of which were tied together and sealed. Medium 
and sitter then sat quietly together for some time, when a 
sound was heard from the small table, placed some distance 
from the medium, and, upon examining the table, it was 
found that the rings were encircling the leg — it being, ap- 
parently, impossible for them to have been placed there by 
any normal means, since they were no larger than the leg it- 
self, and this central leg terminated at its lowest extremity 
in a tripod, three small legs branching off in various direc- 
tions in order to support the table, and the upper end 
fastened to the table-top. Both ends of the leg on which the 
rings appeared were thus much larger than the rings them- 
selves, and we should have to suppose, either that the rings 
were split in some manner, in order to get them on to the 
table-leg (which we know was not the case, as the rings were 
examined after they were on the table-leg and found to be 
sound), or the top of the table must have been taken off and 
the rings slipped on the table-leg, and the table-top replaced. 
That this could not have been done at the seance is evident. 
The catgut at the conclusion of the seance was, needless to 
say, mmus the two rings. 

This is a very remarkable manifestation, from any point 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 31 

of view whatsoever. I have carefully read the report of this 
phenomenon, and am convinced that it could have been man- 
aged by adroit trickery. I venture to suggest the following 
explanation of what transpired on that memorable occasion, 
— it appearing to me that this theory of the phenomenon 
is not contradicted by the account, as it stands. 

Slade had the opportunity of examining the two rings 
prior to the seance at which they were " miraculously " passed 
on to the table-leg, as above described. He had exact dupli- 
cates made of these rings, and, at some convenient moment, 
exchanged these for the originals — all this transpiring 
before the seance was held, and possibly at some earlier time 
on the very day of the seance. Slade now unscrewed the top 
of the small table, and passed on to the leg the two original 
rings. He then fastened the top of the small table in place 
again. These two rings he now tied together by means of a 
piece of black silk thread, fastening both rings, thus secured, 
to the table-leg, immediately under the top of the table, — 
so that, unless the sitter should deliberately stoop down and 
look under the table, they would be invisible to him. To the 
thread fastening the two rings together was also attached 
a long thread (several feet in length), this being coiled up 
and attached to the table-leg in some manner, so as to be 
readily grasped by the hand, and arranged so that it would 
unwind, as pulled. 

Zollner would now have fastened the two duplicate rings 
together by means of the catgut, and Slade could either have 
abstracted these rings in the process of fastening the catgut 
ends together, or have substituted another piece of catgut, 
without rings, at some time during the course of the experi- 
ment — say, when he was entertaining Professor Zollner with 
clairvoyant visions of lights, etc. (p. 109). 

It may be presumed, since there is no evidence to the con- 
trary, that Slade himself placed the tables in position. When 
placing the smaller table in position, then, he secretly gained 
possession of the silk thread, and carried one end of it with 
him to his seat. The seance then proceeded as described. At 
the proper moment, Slade pulled the thread with a quick 



32 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

jerk, breaking the thread passing around the two rings (that 
which fastened them together, and to the under side of the 
table-top), and allowing them to fall down on to the table-leg 
itself — into the position described. When all eyes were 
turned in the direction of the table, Slade would have had 
an opportunity to pull away the black thread, — thus con- 
cealing the last traces of the modus operandi. 

Such a version of this experiment is, I suggest, most prob- 
ably the right one. Zollner apparently never thought of ex- 
amining the under side of the small table just before the 
seance, when the rings were in position. He never thought, 
in all probability, that the two rings he placed upon the 
catgut were other than his own two rings, as he did not exam- 
ine these at that time, either. He assumed that they were the 
same, because he never thought of there being any others. 
Slade could easily have manipulated the rings so as to make 
them disappear, at some time during the seance. He would 
not have ventured to allow Zollner to place his own rings on 
the catgut, and place the duplicates on the table-leg, as he 
knew that the critical examination of the rings would come 
after the seance, when the rings were in place, on the table- 
leg, and then substitutes would have been easily detected. He 
accordingly adopted the bolder plan of substituting the rings 
earlier in the seance, as suggested — this enabling the real 
rings to be found on the table-leg, and trusting to chance 
that Professor Zollner would not make too careful an exam- 
ination of the rings just before the seance. This bolder 
method was successful, — the result being a brilliant success, 
as shown. I offer this explanation of the phenomenon, be- 
lieving that it may possibly be the correct interpretation of 
the puzzling facts narrated. 

There are one or two facts which would seem to bear out 
this interpretation of the case, more or less indirectly. The 
records do this for one thing, though I cannot go through 
them all here, for such confirmatory proofs. There is, of 
course, the 'presumption that any such a test as that described 
could not be possible — the passage of matter through mat- 
ter, " apports " — being scientifically almost unthinkable, 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 33 

though not quite so. There is the evidence, too, that all such 
cases have hitherto been unable to withstand too exact a 
scrutiny, as illustrated in the case of the medium Haxby, 
who came before the S. P. R. with an iron ring upon his arm, 
apparently too small for it to have been placed there by any 
normal means. 1 A close investigation showed, however, that, 
by etherizing the hand, and rendering the patient insensible 
for the time being, the ring could be made to pass on or off 
the medium's arm — though the committee did not feel j us- 
tified in conducting the experiment. The history of the sub- 
ject gives us no similar case of the successful passage of 
rings, etc., on to legs or arms, human or otherwise, that can- 
not be explained as the result of fraud. 

There is one very clever " test " that is sometimes per- 
formed, which would seem to show that something of this sort 
is accomplished. It is, however, nothing more than an in- 
genious trick, and this might be a good time to explain its 
modus operandi. The general effect of the illusion is this: 
The medium requests some one to assist him in an experiment 
in which he is going to attempt to pass " matter through 
matter." As the test is one in which a confederate might 
easily be employed, he is very careful to choose some person 
who is well known, or whose character is above all suspicion. 
If this were not so, the entire effect of the test would be lost 
upon the investigators. Having secured his assistant, he 
hands him, for examination, a solid steel ring, just large 
enough to slip on and off the hand and arm easily. The ring 
is perfectly solid, and may be examined by any one desirous 
of doing so. When this part of the performance is finished, 
the medium and his sitter then join or clasp their right hands 
(as in handshaking), and the sitter is instructed not to release 
the hand for a single instant. To " make assurance doubly 
sure," however, the hands are fastened together in any way 
the sitters may desire ; the hands being tied together with tape, 
e. g., and the ends of this tape tied and the knots sealed. The 
tape connects the wrists and the hands of the medium and 
his sitter, and this tying may be made as secure as possible. 
1 Proceedings, Vol. III., pp. 460-3. 



34 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

A piece of thick cloth is now thrown over the two hands and 
the lower part of the arms, — concealing them from view. 
With his disengaged hand, the medium now takes the iron 
ring and passes it up under the cloth, so as to bring it in con- 
tact with his own arm. He holds it there for some time, 
but ultimately snatches off the covering cloth, and reveals to 
the eyes of the astonished audience the ring — now encircling 
his own arm — in spite of the fact that the ties are still in 
statu quo, and the sitter never let go his hold for an instant. 
The ties and the ring may again be examined, if desired, be- 
fore the hands are separated. 
x This is an exceedingly effective test, and has every appear- 
ance of being genuine — indeed, it is hard to see where trick- 
ery can come in, and for this reason is far better (because 
far more under the control of the sitters) than such a test 
as that of Zollner's, discussed above. The trick is one of the 
simplest imaginable, however, and is performed in the follow- 
ing manner. 

The medium has provided himself with two rings exactly 
alike ; one of these the audience is free to examine, the other 
the medium is wearing on his right arm, under his coat. 
When the two hands are clasped together, therefore, it is 
a simple thing for the medium, under cover of the enveloping 
cloth, to slip the duplicate ring down his sleeve, and on to his 
own hand, and that part of the " miracle " is accomplished ! 
It remains only to explain what becomes of the first ring. 
The cloth thrown over the arms is very thick and stiff, as 
stated, and the inner side of this contains a double partition, 
or sort of bag, into which the medium slips the duplicate 
ring. The cloth may now be shown on both sides, without 
disclosing the ring, and the medium makes away with it as 
soon as possible, in order to avoid detection. 

It will be observed that, in the above test, duplicate rings 
are employed ; the first being in place before the experiment 
commences ; and it seems to me that a very similar explana- 
tion might suffice to explain that most puzzling of all Zoll- 
ner's " tests." The presence of the duplicate ring is cer- 
tainly never suspected in this case, — even when the sitters 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 35 

are more than ordinarily acute; and, that being the case, 
it is surely not too much to suppose that Zollner may have 
been deceived by some very similar method. 

I come, lastly, to a consideration of the most famous of all 
the Zollner tests — the rope-tying experiments, in which 
knots were apparently tied in a cord, the two ends of which 
were sealed together very securely, Professor Zollner plac- 
ing his signet on the knots in each case. These were the 
experiments that caused Professor Zollner to conceive his 
theory of space of four dimensions in order to account 
for the knots appearing in these cords. Without considering 
the theory, however, let us at once turn to the experiments, 
and see whether they are of a probable fraudulent or genuine 
character. 

Zollner thus describes the preparations of the cords for 
his famous experiments. He took a hempen cord, tied the 
ends together in an ordinary knot, fixed this knot to a piece 
of paper with wax, sealing the wax carefully, and cutting 
off the paper round the seal. The ends of the cord were 
thus securely fastened to the card, besides being tied and 
sealed themselves. The account goes on (p. 42) : 

" The above described sealing of two such strings, with 
my own seal, was effected by myself in my apartments, on 
the evening of December 16th, 1877, at nine o'clock, under 
the eyes of several of my friends and colleagues, and not in 
the presence of Mr. Slade. Two other strings of the same 
quality and dimensions were sealed by William Weber with 
his seal, and in his own rooms, on the morning of the 17th 
of December, at 10.30 a. m. With these four cords I went 
to the neighboring dwelling of one of my friends. . . . The 
seance in question took place in my friend's sitting-room 
immediately after my arrival. I myself selected one of the 
four sealed cords, and, in order never to lose sight of it, 
before we sat down at the table, I hung it around my neck, — 
the seal in front always within my sight. During the seance, 
as previously stated, I constantly kept the seal — remaining 
unaltered — before me on the table. Mr. Slade's hands re- 
mained all the time in sight; with the left he often touched 



36 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

his forehead, complaining of painful sensations. The por- 
tion of the string hanging rested on my lap, — out of my 
sight, it is true, — but Mr. Slade's hands always remained 
visible to me. I particularly noticed that Mr. Slade's hands 
were not withdrawn or changed in position. He himself 
appeared to be perfectly passive, so that we cannot advance 
the assertion of his having tied these knots by his conscious 
will, but only that they, under these detailed circumstances, 
were formed in his presence without visible contact, and in 
a room illuminated by bright daylight." 

Such is the record. It is certainly remarkable that, under 
the conditions named, four knots were formed in the cord 
before this seance was concluded — knots such as could not 
possibly have been tied unless the ends of the cord were free. 
The test is, apparently, so perfect that it would seem almost 
impossible to show that it contained flaws of such a character 
as to render the evidence quite valueless, from a scientific 
point of view. Such, however, is the case, as it now becomes 
necessary to show. 

The possible methods that might have been made use of 
by Slade, in obtaining knots in this manner (or at least 
under very similar conditions), will be described in detail 
presently. For the moment, I desire only to draw attention 
to the imperfections in the report itself, and point out 
the loopholes and possibilities of fraud that Professor Zoll- 
ner overlooked, in drawing up his report. The actual ex- 
planations (if such they are, indeed) will come later. Let us 
pave the way for such explanations, then, by a consideration 
of the report, — thereby showing where such possible 
methods of trickery as those suggested might, perhaps, have 
been practised. This critical work has been done in such an 
excellent manner in the quotations that follow that I cannot 
do better than to give them to the reader verbatim. This 
I do accordingly ; after which discussion we shall probably 
be in a better condition to consider the methods that might 
actually have been employed in these famous seances. First, 
then, there is the most important criticism made by Mrs. 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 37 

Sidgwick, 1 viz., that Zollner omitted mention of certain most 
important events that had happened, and which formed, in a 
way, the clue to the mystery. Thus : 

"... In describing the seance on December 17, 1877, 
when he obtained four knots in a string of which the ends 
were tied and sealed together, he omits to mention that the 
experiment had been tried and failed before. We learn this 
was so, accidentally as it were, from his mentioning it in 
another place and in another connection, 2 where he tells us 
that it was a long time before the spirits understood what 
kind of knot was required of them, and that, before they 
did so, he obtained knots, but not such as he wanted — knots, 
I infer, which could be made by ordinary beings without 
undoing the string. Now this fact obviously aifects the value 
of the experiment, for it makes it possible that Doctor Slade 
may have prepared a string similar to Professor Zollner's 
at home, and brought it with him, and, notwithstanding 
Professor Zollner's watchfulness, have changed it." Mrs. 
Sidgwick suggests that the time when trickery was most 
probably employed was at the period of arranging the ropes 
on the table — a very good guess, as we shall presently see. 
For the present, I am, however, concerned with an examina- 
tion of the defective nature of the record, and not with sug- 
gestions of how the feats were actually performed. Let us 
proceed with our examination of the evidence, therefore, 
considering only the character of the record, as such. 

Besides the above defects in the account, then, Professor 
Hyslop has pointed out eleven possible sources of error, — 
any one of which would have facilitated fraud, while, taken 
together, and in conjunction with the previous criticisms, 
they leave hardly a shred of respectable evidence for super- 
normal phenomena in these famous Zollner-Slade experi- 
ments, which have been paraded before the skeptical world for 
these twenty years. I quote Professor Hyslop's criticisms 
at length, as they seem to me very fine indeed. 

" (1) We should note the disproportionate amount of 

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV., p. 65. 
3 Abhandlungen, Vol. II., p. 1191. 



38 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

detail in the description of the preparations for the experi- 
ment and in the experiment itself. This is the natural habit 
of the physicist, who either imagines that the preparation is 
the main thing, or leaves to others the verification of his 
work. But the point where he should have shown the most 
care and the most minute description was during the per- 
formance. (£) He does not say anything whatever about 
the history of the other three cords which he took with him. 
We should know where they were put during the performance, 
and what became of them. (3) We are not told anything 
to show that he had compared the cord with the knots in it 
after the seance with the cord as taken to Slade. It ought 
to have been accurately measured after the performance to 
see if any difference between it, then and before, could be 
detected. In other words, Zollner should have assumed the 
possibility of substituting one cord for another, which he 
thought he had excluded. (4) He does not tell us whether 
he examined the paper afterward on which the wax seals 
were pasted. Whether a substitute cord was possible or not, 
this examination should have been made, as an evidential 
precaution. (5) He says nothing about any careful exam- 
ination of the seals to show that they were identical with 
those he had put on the knotted end of the cord. (6) He 
does not say a word about the amount of time employed in 
the experiment or the tying of the 'fourth dimension knots.' 
... (7) He does not give any details that went on between 
the time of sitting down at the table and the final tying of 
the knots. Here was a crucial moment when the most minute 
account of the experiment should have been made. (8) He 
does not say when the account of the experiment was written. 
To give it value, it should have been from notes made on the 
occasion and written out immediately afterward. (9) 
Though very careful to give the dates on which the cords 
were prepared, no care is taken to tell us when or on what 
dates the experiment was performed. (10) We are not told 
whether Slade touched or examined the cord in his own hands 
or not. (11) No indication is given regarding the chances 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 39 

that Slade may have had to examine the friend's cord and to 
be prepared for a reproduction of Zollner's." * 

In addition to all the foregoing objections, I would point 
out the following sources of error, and examples of mal- 
observation which practically invalidate the experiments, so 
far as scientific proof is concerned. (1) The experiments 
were seldom those asked for, but usually one planned by Slade, 
or one that happened spontaneously. (Zollner admits this 
on p. 110.) This would seem to indicate that the tests 
planned by Zollner were too difficult for Slade, and he had 
to get out of the difficulty by performing others. (2) In 
speaking of the slate-tests, where writing was obtained on 
slates placed on a table, and untouched by Slade, he says: 
" They (the slates) were laid on or close to the corner of the 
card-table" (p. 60), without saying who placed them there. 
If Slade placed the slates in that position — as he very likely 
did — then it should certainly have been so stated, for it is 
highly probable that the opportunity for fraud occurred 
just at that moment. In all seances of the kind, in all ac- 
counts of any supernormal phenomena, in which a profes- 
sional medium is engaged, it is quite useless to state that 
" the slates were placed on the table," etc. — without saying 
who placed them there. In reading over accounts of slate- 
writing seances, it is very seldom that we find it specifically 
stated who performed each action, though this is the very 
crux of the whole case. This same lack of observation of 
important details is observed in Professor Wagner's Report 
(p. 131). (3) Slade was often allowed to suggest the ex- 
periments that were to be tried himself (p. 61). He would 
doubtless have suggested tests for which he was amply pre- 
pared. (4) Slade frequently diverted the sitter's attention 
from the real issue by turning aside either to try some other 
experiment (p. 66), or by diverting the sitter's attention by 
such devices as clairvoyant visions, etc. (p. 109). (5) The 
sitters followed the direction of " the spirits," when told, 
e. g., to leave the slates on the table for four seances (p. 
131), though this obviously is absurd, in the case of a me- 
1 Borderland of Psychical Research, pp. 235-7. 



40 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

dium like Slade. It deprives the writing obtained ultimately 
of all evidential value. 

In addition to the foregoing objections, there are the very 
grave ones made by the Seybert Commission, printed in their 
Report, pp. 104-14. Finding their own evidence so nega- 
tive, yet impressed, to a certain extent, with Zollner's book, 
Transcendental Physics, the members of the commission were 
uncertain what course to pursue with regard to this inves- 
tigation, when they received a detailed account from one of 
their number, Mr. George S. Fullerton, of personal inter- 
views with the four professors who endorsed Slade's phenom- 
ena — Zollner, Fechner, Scheibner, and Weber. This 
account clearly shows that both Fechner and Scheibner were 
partially blind at the time, and depended more on what Zoll- 
ner told them was taking place than on what they could see 
for themselves ; while Weber was, in many ways, an incom- 
petent witness of such phenomena. As to Zollner, the chief 
narrator, it was found that he was of slightly unsound mind 
(though all his associates admitted that this did not impair 
his capacity as an investigator or observer) ; that he was bent 
on proving his theory of space of four dimensions ; that he 
was, in many ways, an incautious observer and believer ; and, 
lastly, and by far the most important point of all, is the 
fact that neither he nor any of his three colleagues knew any- 
thing whatever of conjuring or the possibilities of deception. 
With such a mass of evidence against him, it seems unneces- 
sary to insist upon the fact that the testimony of such an 
observer is practically valueless, so far as it is intended to 
prove the supernormal character of facts such as these. 

It may be replied to all this that we have the evidence of 
Bellachini, court conjurer, that the phenomena observed in 
Slade's presence were not due to trickery, or explainable by 
any of the devices known to conjurers (pp. 213-4). This 
evidence does not weigh very heavily against the more posi- 
tive testimony, however, for several reasons. In the first 
place, very little was known in those days of the tricks of 
mediums, even by conjurers themselves. It is only of 
late years that the information has leaked out and become 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 41 

more or less public property. Then, too, we learn that 
Bellachini was (at that time, at least) entirely ignorant of 
the methods of fraudulent mediums. 1 Many conjurers were 
and are entirely ignorant of the methods employed by fraud- 
ulent mediums, and, as Mr. Davey pointed out, 2 in this par- 
ticular branch of investigation they are often no more in- 
formed than the ordinary person — or were, as this is not 
true, nowadays. We must remember, finally, that both 
Robert Houdin and Harry Kellar were convinced that 
the spiritualistic performances they witnessed were genuine, 
though both, afterward, retracted their opinions and even 
succeeded in duplicating the medium's performance by 
fraudulent means ! Kellar's " Open Letter," stating that he 
could not account for the manifestations observed at a 
seance (E glint on being the medium), is to be found in 
Psychic Notes, Calcutta, February 10th, 1882. Houdin's 
statement is in Mahatma, Vol. I., No. 6, August, 1895. 

It is hardly necessary to review, further, the historical evi- 
dence in the case of Zollner, as it has already been shown to 
be open to so many objections that further proof is unneces- 
sary. I shall, accordingly, turn to the discussion of the 
probable actual methods that Slade employed in procuring 
the knots on the endless cord, and discuss, incidentally, several 
methods of obtaining such knots in ropes, which may be of 
interest in the present connection. 

I think we need have no hesitation in asserting that the 
method Slade followed, in producing the knots in the cords 
that were sealed by Zollner and brought by him to the seance, 
was the following, which can be very easily done, pro- 
vided the sitters are not too sharp-witted and acute, as we 
are tolerably sure Zollner was not! We know that Slade 
had the opportunity to examine the ropes before the seance, 
since (although Zollner omitted to mention this fact in his 
Transcendental Physics) the experiment had been previously 
tried and had failed (v. p. 37). Slade, then, knew the char- 
acter of the experiment that was to be tried, and had every 

1 V. Round the World with a Magician and a Juggler, p. 168. 
3 Proceedings S. P. R., VoL IV., p. 411. 



42 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

opportunity to examine the length, character, etc., of the 
rope used for the experiment, and to duplicate it in the in- 
terval. He had also, beyond doubt, the opportunity to have 
made a duplicate seal, — exactly similar to Zollner's own, — 
and to seal up the ends of the cords after having tied them in 
the same manner as the original cords were tied. He now had 
a duplicate set of cords, exactly similar to those of Zoll- 
ner's. Just before the seance, Slade secreted in his right 
sleeve one of these duplicate cords, so arranged that the 
seal came just within his cuff, and could be readily reached 
by the fingers of either hand at the opportune moment. On 
this cord there were, of course, the four knots, already tied, 
this having been done before the ends of the cord were 
sealed. 

Now, when the seal and ends of the cord were being ar- 
ranged on the table, Slade extracted the duplicate seal from 
his right sleeve, and placed it on the table, at the same mo- 
ment covering the seal of the original cord with one of his 
hands — ■ " palming " it, in fact — so that we now have the 
trick half-accomplished ; the seal having been exchanged for 
that on Slade's own cord, and that being the one now in 
sight, while the loop of the rope still visible was the original 
of Professor Zollner's — Slade's being still secreted in his 
sleeve (see Fig. 1, p. 44). Slade now gathered up the cord 
into a bundle, preparatory to handing it to Zollner, and, at 
the same time, he gradually pulled his right arm backward, 
thereby extracting the duplicate cord which was hidden in 
his sleeve, until this was all extracted, and in his hands. It 
now became merely a question of secreting the original cord 
of Professor Zollner's, for it would have been impossible to 
have distinguished the fact that there were two cords rolled 
up together, the tangled mass rendering this quite im- 
possible. Slade now had both cords in his hand, therefore, 
and he let his hand sink below the surface of the table for the 
fraction of a second, in handing the cord to Professor Zoll- 
ner, allowing the original cord, in that instant, to drop into 
his lap, where it was at once seized upon by the disengaged 
hand and thrust into a convenient pocket. Zollner now had, 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 43 

in his hands, the cord on which were the four knots, and the 
trick was virtually done. Slade had to prevent Zollner from 
discovering this fact, however, and assisted Professor Zollner 
in arranging the cord around his neck — a courtesy that 
Zollner doubtless gracefully accepted. Slade saw to it, in 
this arrangement, that, while the seal rested on the table, in 
full sight of all, the portion of the rope containing the knots 
fell under the edge of the table — that part of the loop 
which Zollner admits was not within his sight. It was on 
this portion of the cord that the knots were found, it must 
be remembered — also that four knots were formed, instead 
of only one, as requested (p. 41). It is obvious that the 
trick is now done — all that remained for Slade to do was to 
triumphantly disclose the knots at the proper moment. 

All that we have to assume, in order to accept this explana- 
tion of the facts as the true one, is that there was a very 
slight amount of malobservation and lack of memory present 
on the part of the recorder of the seance, and, in view of the 
evidence printed above, it will surely not be difficult to assume 
that such was, in fact, the case. Whether the above explana- 
tion of the facts is the true one or not, of course I cannot 
say; but there is nothing in the evidence which would pro- 
hibit us from thinking that such is the case, and I accord- 
ingly offer this explanation to my readers as a possible way 
out of the difficulty. 

I shall now give one or two methods of obtaining knots in 
cords by other means than those described above, but which 
will be of especial interest to us as illustrating the possibili- 
ties of fraud in this connection. The first of these " tests " 
is very similar to that of Zollner's, except that the rope is, 
in this case, sealed to the table-top. The two ends of the rope 
are laid on the table, and sealing-wax applied in the usual 
manner. It may be sealed, if desired, as in Zollner's experi- 
ment. The lights are now lowered for a few moments, at the 
end of which period they are again turned up, and, lo and 
behold ! the rope contains two, three or more knots, though 
the seals on the table are undisturbed and unbroken. This 



44 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

is a very clever test and is worked in practically the same 
manner as the last one. The medium has, secreted up his 
sleeve, a duplicate cord, and, when the two ends of the rope 
are placed upon the table to be waxed over, he substitutes the 
two ends of his own cord for those of his sitter, and these 
are the ends that are sealed to the table-top. The loop of the 
skeptic's cord is hanging down in full sight of the sitters 
(the ends being concealed by the medium's hand, which is 
holding the other rope to the table), while the rope contain- 
ing the knots is quietly reposing in his sleeve. When the 
lights are turned down, therefore, all the medium has to do 
is to pull out the hidden cord from his sleeve, allowing it to 
fall into its natural position, and hide the duplicate cord in his 
pocket. The cord, seals, etc., may now be examined to the 
sitters' hearts' content — since they have not, in reality, been 
tampered with in any way. 

There is a clever test, in which a number of knots are 
obtained in a cord which has just been coiled up before the 
sitters' eyes, — after having been examined and found to be 
free from preparation. The medium takes the rope, coils 
it up, gives the two ends of the rope to some sitter to knot 
and seal in any manner he may see fit — he being allowed to 
take the rope into his own possession in order to do this, if 
desired. There is no trickery about the knotting and sealing 
of the ends of the cord, since this is done altogether by the 
sitters themselves ; and it would be impossible for the medium 
to substitute another cord, in this instance, since the cord 
may be marked in any way desired. The lights are lowered, 
while the medium holds the rope in his hands, and, though 
they are only extinguished for a few seconds, nevertheless, 
when the room is again illuminated, the cord is found to con- 
tain a number of genuine knots, the seals still being intact, 
and the rope the same one knotted by the sitters, as an 
examination will show. This test is very mystifying, and is, 
in many respects, far superior to the test that Zollner wit- 
nessed through the mediumship of Slade. 

In this case, the trick consists almost entirely in the method 
of coiling the rope. The cord is not exchanged, and the 



The Slade - Zollner Investigation 45 

seals are not unfastened. It is not necessary. The medium 
takes the cord in his right hand at a distance of about one 
foot from the end, in the manner shown in Fig. II. The left 
hand now takes up a loop of the rope in the manner shown 
in Fig. III., and passes this over the hand as shown in Fig. 
IV. He does this with every loop made, and it will now be 
found that, at the conclusion of the coiling, when the end 
of the rope is reached, if the original end, first held in the 
hand, be passed through all the loops, as shown in Fig. V., the 
effect will be to tie as many knots in the rope as there were 
loops made. The trick is already done, for all the medium 
had to do, under cover of the darkness, was to pull out the 
rope to its full extent — thereby knotting it — and coil 
it up again as it was before. This might even be done under 
the table in full light, if desired. The success depends al- 
together on the air of ease and naturalness with which the 
medium performs every action, and his impressing upon the 
sitters that the important part of the test does not commence 
until the sealing is begun, — when the experiment apparently 
begins. In reality, that is where it ends, for the trick is 
already done! 

There is another ingenious test in which knots are obtained 
in a cord that is attached to the wrists of two of the sitters — 
being sealed on to them, if desired. Each end of the cord is 
securely tied to the wrist of some sitter, and sealed. The two 
sitters are now requested to stand up at some distance from 
one another, while the lights are lowered. The rope is quite 
long, in this case, and is coiled up in a heap, and placed be- 
tween the sitters, on the floor of the seance-room. When the 
lights are again turned up, there are several knots on the 
rope, though the sitters declare that the ends of the rope 
have remained firmly fastened to their wrists throughout. 

This " test " is worked in the following manner. When 
the lights are extinguished, the medium picks up the coil of 
rope, and holds it in his right hand. Going up to one of his 
two sitters, he now slips it over his head, and allows it to drop 
to the floor, — all unknown to the sitter, as the medium has 
taken special pains to see that the rope did not touch him 



46 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

in its passage to the floor (v. Fig. VI.). The medium now 
requests this sitter to change his position a few feet, and 
guides him to some place where he will be free from the ropes. 
It will now be seen that the whole body of one of the sitters has 
passed through the loops of the rope, and there are, accord- 
ingly, a number of knots formed in the rope — the number 
depending on the number of coils made in it. As in all 
other cases, the trick is done under the sitters' noses, and 
in a manner which they would in no wise suspect. 

There is a method of obtaining a knot in a short, single 
piece of rope, which the medium merely tosses into the empty 
cabinet with one hand. When picked up, however, some sec- 
onds later, it is found to contain a knot loosely tied in the 
middle of the cord. This is done in the following manner, 
by the medium himself. The trick is performed in the act of 
throwing the rope into the cabinet. The medium takes hold 
of the rope near one of its ends, the rope passing across the 
palm of the hand. The long end of the rope is allowed to 
hang down, the short end being grasped between the thumb 
and the finger of the hand. The hand and arm are now 
given a kind of circular sweep, this causing the long or lower 
portion of the rope to swing under, then over, the wrist, and 
across the fingers of the hand. This end is then seized be- 
tween the fingers and drawn through the loop just made; 
at the same time the loop is dropped off the wrist as the rope 
is tossed into the cabinet. This all becomes one quick action, 
after a little practice — I myself have performed it in such 
a manner that a close observer could scarcely detect the 
action on my part, though knowing the secret of the trick, 
and what to look for. 

I conclude this chapter by giving a very clever test, 
described by Robinson, in his Spirit Slate Writing, pp. 84-5, 
in which a knot is made to disappear from the centre of a 
piece of string, where it is tied, the ends of the string being 
sealed together. 

" A single knot is tied in the centre of a piece of string ; 
now the ends are tied together and the knots sealed. The 
lights are turned down ; on their again being turned up, the 



— " 

Fig. 6 





The Slade - Zollner Investigation 47 

knot in the centre of the cord has disappeared. The mo- 
ment there was darkness, the medium started to work, and 
kept slipping the knot along the string until it joined the 
rest at the top of the string, where there is not much fear 
of its being seen. To further protect himself he uses the 
following plan: He chews gum colored the same as the seal- 
ing-wax used. Now, in the dark, when he has the single knot 
up against the others, at the end of the string, he covers this 
knot with part of the chewing gum, and blends it with the 
sealing-wax." 



CHAPTER III 

THE PSYCHOLOGY OP DECEPTION 

There is so much to be said in connection with this question 
of the " psychology of deception," that the present chapter 
will have to be merely a brief resume of the sub j ect, indicating 
the most important points to bear in mind relative to the par- 
ticular phase of the subject we are considering — the psy- 
chology of conjuring deceptions and fraudulent mediumistic 
tricks. The object is to enable the reader to see, more easily, 
how it is that the watchful observer is deceived into believing 
that a thing is so, when in reality it is not, and vice versa; 
and also to give an idea of the various methods employed by 
the medium in order to accomplish his results. 

I must first of all call the reader's attention to one or two 
rules which every conjurer learns at the commencement of 
his study, and which he learns to apply so constantly that 
it becomes second nature to him. The first is : never let the 
eyes rest on the hand that is performing the " sleight," but 
always on the other hand, or on some object on the table or 
elsewhere, as this will have a tendency to draw the eyes of 
the audience to that point also. The sitters or audience 
will always look at the point closely watched by the magician, 
■ — their eyes have a tendency to follow his, and wherever 
he looks, there will the onlooker look also. Needless to say, 
the magician makes use of this fact, and many tricks and illu- 
sions are dependent upon it for their successful accomplish- 
ment. Whenever the magician or medium looks intently at 
one hand, therefore, the other hand should be watched, as it 
is a sure sign that that is the hand which is performing the 
trick. 

48 



The Psychology of Deception 49 

Another fundamental rule that is observed by all sleight- 
of-hand performers is : never to let an audience know before- 
hand what is to be done ; i. £., the nature of the trick that it 
is intended to perform. If the spectator knew what was 
forthcoming, he would be on the lookout for movements of 
the performer at certain critical times, — just at the periods 
when close observation is least wanted, — and would quite pos- 
sibly detect the performer in the act of executing certain 
movements which would show how the trick was performed. 
But not knowing what is coming, the spectator is unable to 
watch closely at the critical moment — not knowing what 
that moment is — and so is unable to detect the trick, his at- 
tention being diverted by the performer, just before this 
movement is made, to some other object or movement. 

The methods of diverting the spectator's attention are 
various. There is the use of the eyes, as before shown. Then 
there is the spoken word, the performer telling the onlookers 
to observe some certain object or action, and the effect is to 
cause them to watch it, as they are told. They follow the 
line of least resistance. The combined effect upon the spec- 
tator of the spoken word and the eyes together is generally 
irresistible. 

Another important factor is this. A performer should 
always let any suggestion, right or wrong, soak well into the 
spectator's mind before attempting to change it. This is 
for two reasons. In the first place, if the suggestion is cor- 
rect, if, e. g., the performer really does place an object in his 
left hand, and it is shortly found to have vanished from that 
hand, he is annoyed by hearing some one say that he was not 
really sure it was there in the first place, as " it was covered 
up so quickly." If, on the other hand, the suggestion given 
was a false one, if, e. g., the performer says he has placed 
an object in his left hand, when, in reality, he has not done 
so but has palmed it in the right, then it is still necessary to 
allow a certain time-interval to elapse between the performing 
of the action which apparently placed the ob j ect in the hand, 
and the showing of the hand empty, for this reason. If the 
hand into which the object is supposedly placed is immedi- 



50 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

ately shown empty, the natural conclusion of the sitter is that 
the object was not in reality placed there at all, but was re- 
tained in the other hand, which would be the fact. If, how- 
ever, the performer allowed some time to elapse, between the 
action of placing the object in that hand (supposedly) and 
the showing of the hand empty, he, meanwhile, keeping his 
eyes fixed on the hand, suggesting to the sitters that the 
object is there, and in every way acting as if it were there, 
the idea will gradually gain a firm hold on the minds of the 
spectators that the object is there, in reality, and they are 
correspondingly surprised to find it ultimately vanished. It 
is just such a knowledge of " the way people's minds work," 
as a friend once said to me, which enables the conjurer to 
deceive the public ; and it is precisely the same cast of mind 
that the medium possesses. He is, in fact, a good judge of 
human nature. 

Another fact that must be borne in mind is that, when 
once a spectator has seen a movement made two or three 
times in the same manner, he frequently " sees " the per- 
former make that movement on another occasion, when the 
performer had, in reality, only started to make the move- 
ment, and suggested the rest. Thus, if the performer throws 
a ball up into the air two or three times in succession, and 
on the fourth occasion merely pretends to throw it up, really 
retaining it in the other hand, the great majority of the 
spectators will really " see " the ball ascend into the air on 
the fourth occasion, and will so state, on being asked. We 
here depend upon association and habit. 1 

Professor Jastrow summed up this portion of the psychol- 
ogy of deception very well when he said : 2 

"He (the conjurer) must dissociate the natural factors 
of his habits, actually attending to one thing while seemingly 
attending to another ; at the same time his eyes and his ges- 
tures and his ' patter ' misdirect the attention to what is 
apparently the essential field of operation, but really only 

1 A very similar illusion is mentioned by Professor Hyslop, v. Border- 
land of Psychical Research, pp. 228-9, in which pellets were apparently 
placed in a box, really being palmed in the medium's hand. 

2 Fact and Fable in Psychology, pp. 124-5. 



The Psychology of Deception 51 

a blind to distract attention away from the true scene of 
action. The conjurer directs your attention to what he does 
not do ; he does not do what he pretends to do ; and to what 
he actually does, he is careful neither to appear to direct his 
own attention nor to arouse yours." 

Prof. Max Dessoir, in a very fine article on " The 
Psychology of Conjuring," writes as follows: "By awaken- 
ing interest in some unimportant detail, the conjurer con- 
centrates that attention on some false point, or negatively, 
diverts it from the main object, and we all know the senses 
of an inattentive person are pretty dull. . . . When causing 
the disappearance of some object, the conjurer counts one, 
two, three; the object must really disappear before three, 
not at three, because, the attention of the public being di- 
verted to three, they do not notice what happens at one and 
two. ... A specially successful method of diversion is 
founded on the human craze for imitation. . . . The con- 
jurer counts on this in many cases. He always looks in the 
direction where he wants the attention of the public, and 
does everything himself which he wants the public to do. 
. . . If the trick is in the left hand, the conjurer turns 
sharply to the person to his right, presuming correctly that 
the spectators will make the same movement, and will not 
notice what is going on in the left hand. . . . Every sharp, 
short remark will, for a moment, at least, divert the eyes 
from the hands and direct them to the mouth, according to 
the above mentioned law of imitation." 

The successful conjurer has carefully studied beforehand 
every movement that is made, — every word that is spoken, 
— during a conjuring performance, and has seen that these 
all fit naturally into place, and help conceal the real workings 
of the trick. The right and left hands must be trained to 
operate independently, and without the need of looking at 
either. Many conjurers practise doing two separate things 
at the same time, one with either hand; and the ability to 
do this is essential. Above all, the performer must be full 
of conscious self-possession^ and feel himself to be master 



52 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

of the situation, no less than to feel the ability to cope with 
any emergencies that may arise. 

Turning, now, to a consideration of the seance, we find 
that many of these psychological rules still hold good, and 
their operation enables the medium to perform many actions 
which would otherwise be impossible. A certain suggestion 
is given to the sitters, and imagination and inference do the 
rest. " Our conclusions as to what we see or hear are always 
founded on a combination of observation and inference ; but 
in daily life it is seldom necessary to distinguish between the 
two elements, since, when the object and its mode of presenta- 
tion are familiar, our inferences are generally correct. But 
it is different when, owing to circumstances, such as a bad 
light, we have to infer more in proportion to what we per- 
ceive than usual; or when some one, e.g., a conjurer or a 
ventriloquist, is trying to deceive us by presenting one object 
under the familiar aspect of another, and suggesting false 
inferences. It is not uncommon to find people at seances 
encouraging each other in the belief that they see, say, a 
living human figure, when all that they actually see is some- 
thing moving which is about the size of a human being ; the 
rest is inference." x How true these last remarks are is 
demonstrated by the statement, made in The Revelations of 
a Spirit Medium (p. 92), that an old wire mask frequently 
used at materializing seances had been recognized " by dozens 
of persons as fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, cousins, 
sweethearts, wives, husbands, and various other relatives and 
friends. None but the medium knew that it was only a fifty- 
cent wire mask, hence none but the medium could enjoy the 
humor of the occasion." 

One of the most instructive incidents I know, in relation 
to this question of the psychology of deception, is the one 
given by Doctor Hodgson, 2 — the case of the officer and the 
Hindu juggler. In this case, a trick was performed before 
an English officer and his wife, and Doctor Hodgson hap- 
pened to overhear this officer telling some travellers of the 

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV., p. 63. 

2 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV., pp. 385-6. 



The Psychology of Deception 53 

experience at dinner that evening. " Referring to the move- 
ments of the coins, he said that he had taken a coin from 
his own pocket and placed it on the ground himself, yet that 
this coin had indulged in the same freaks as the other coins. 
His wife ventured to suggest that the juggler had taken the 
coin and placed it on the ground, but the officer was emphatic 
in repeating his statement, and appealed to me for confirma- 
tion. He was, however, mistaken. I had watched the trans- 
action with special curiosity, as I knew what was necessary 
for the performance of the trick. The officer had apparently 
intended to place the coin upon the ground himself, but as 
he was doing so, the juggler leant slightly forward, dexter- 
ously and in a most unobtrusive manner received the coin 
from the fingers of the officer, as the latter was stooping 
down, and laid it close to the others. If the juggler had not 
thus taken the coin, but had allowed the officer himself to 
place it on the ground, the trick, as actually performed, 
would have been frustrated. 

" Now I think it highly improbable that the movement of 
the juggler entirely escaped the perception of the officer; 
highly improbable, that is to say, that the officer was abso- 
lutely unaware of the juggler's action at the moment of its 
happening; but I suppose that, although an impression was 
made on his consciousness, it was so slight as to be speedily 
effaced by the officer's imagination of himself as stooping 
and placing the coin upon the ground. The officer, I may 
say, had obtained no insight into the modus operandi of the 
trick, and his fundamental misrepresentation of the only 
patent occurrence that might have given him a clue to its 
performance debarred him completely from afterward, in 
reflection, arriving at any explanation. Just similarly, many 
an honest witness may have described himself as having 
placed one slate upon another at a sitting with a medium, 
whereas it was the medium who did so, and who possibly 
effected at the same time one or two other operations alto- 
gether unnoticed by the witness." 

In reading through descriptions of slate-writing seances, 
we very seldom find the statement made as to who placed the 



54 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

slates on the table, or under the table, etc., generally the 
account reading " the slates were then placed on the table," 
without any qualifying statement as to who placed them 
there. Accounts of this kind are absolutely worthless, from 
an evidential standpoint. We must at once ask ourselves: 
who placed the slates in that position? and if it was the 
medium, — as it probably was in the vast majority of in- 
stances, — then that test, in all probability, ceases to have 
any evidential weight. Any one can read over a number of 
accounts of slate-writing performances, and verify these 
statements, if he chooses to do so. Frequently, the state- 
ment is made that the sitter did actually place the slate on 
the table, when in reality the medium did so. This error is 
quite unconscious on the sitter's part, of course, but the 
account is falsified, nevertheless. Mistakes of this kind are 
very common, the sitter thinking afterward that he (the 
sitter) must have placed the slates on the table himself! 

It will be seen from the above that there is a great differ- 
ence between what actually transpired, at any given seance, 
and what the accounts say transpired. The general public 
cannot get that all-important fact too strongly rooted in 
its mind: that the events which transpired at a seance 
may not be reported accurately, so that the report of the 
seance may be altogether wrong and erroneous, though the 
sitters, and those who drew up the report, may have been 
thoroughly honest in their belief that the report is accurate 
in every respect. The effect of all this is very great indeed. 
Many spiritualistic seances are quite inexplicable as described, 
but the description is not a true report of what took place 
at the seance in question. The facts are distorted. Conse- 
quently, the person taking it upon himself to explain what 
took place at the seance is called upon to explain a num- 
ber of things which, in reality, never took place at all. We 
must remember, in this connection, that a number of conjur- 
ing tricks, as described, would be quite impossible to explain 
by any process of trickery. The description of the trick 
was not correct. 

Let me make this still clearer, and at the same time illus- 



The Psychology of Deception 55 

trate the difference between what apparently occurs, and 
what actually happens, by the following example. A con- 
jurer places a coin (say a quarter) in each hand, and closes 
his hands. Another quarter is now placed upon the fingers 
of each hand, so that there is now one quarter in each hand 
and one quarter on the fingers of each. The magician 
announces that, by simply opening and closing his hands, — 
which are held at some distance from each other, — he will 
thereby transfer one of the coins from one hand to the other, 
so that there will be three coins in one of the hands, and only 
one left in the other. 

Now, if the sitter were writing out an account of what 
happened, it would most certainly read as follows : 

" The magician then tried the experiment, — of opening 
and closing his hands rapidly, and causing the coin to be 
transferred, as promised, — but failed in the attempt, the 
coins from the back of each hand falling on to the table in 
rather a clumsy manner. They were, however, again placed 
upon the backs of the magician's hands ; the movement was 
repeated, and this time successfully. The coins disappeared 
from the backs of both hands, in one of which was now found 
three of the coins, while the other hand contained only one." 

Such is precisely the description of the trick, as it would 
be given by the average person, on seeing it, and it would 
represent his honest opinion of what occurred; as it stands, 
it is quite inexplicable by trickery. Needless to say, the ac- 
count is not a true statement of what actually occurred, as 
the following explanation will make clear. 

The first time the coins were dropped on to the table, the 
movement was not so " clumsy " as might have been sup- 
posed. It was, in fact, intentional, being the principal factor 
in the accomplishment of the trick. What actually trans- 
pired at that time was this. The magician, by a quick move- 
ment, dropped both coins from one hand on to the table, at 
the same time dexterously opening the other hand a trifle, 
and allowing the second coin, on that hand, to fall into the 
interior of the hand itself. Thus, while both hands are still 
seen to be closed, one is empty, and the other contains two 



56 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

coins. It is obvious, therefore, that, when a coin is placed 
upon each of the hands again, the magician has only to 
repeat the opening and closing movement, and there will be 
three coins in one of the hands, and only one in the other. 

This trick illustrates, in a very simple and striking manner, 
the possibility of reporting a fact in an entirely erroneous 
manner, quite unconscious of the fact that this error in re- 
porting has been committed. Just in this same manner, are 
many slate-writing and other phenomena misreported, and 
hence an explanation of the seance, as reported, rendered 
impossible. The trouble is that the " report " does not really 
report what actually occurred. 

Thus, to revert to the famous Davey-Hodgson seances, 
mentioned on pp. 87-90, it must be borne in mind that many 
of the effects there witnessed would be absolutely inexplicable 
by trickery, provided the accounts were accurate. Yet we 
know that these slate-writing seances were the result of 
fraud throughout. " Writing between the conjurer's own 
slates, in a way quite inexplicable to the conjurer; writing 
upon slates locked and carefully guarded by witnesses ; writ- 
ing upon slates held by the witnesses firmly against the under 
surface of the table; writing upon slates held by the wit- 
nesses above the table; answers to questions written secretly 
in locked slates ; correct quotations appearing upon guarded 
slates from books chosen by the witnesses at random, and 
sometimes mentally, the books not touched by the medium; 
writing in different colors mentally chosen by the witnesses, 
covering the whole side of one of their own slates ; messages 
in languages unknown to the medium, including a message 
in German, for which only a mental request had been 
made, and a letter in Japanese, in a double slate locked 
and sealed by the witness; the date of a coin placed by 
the witness in a sealed envelope correctly written in a locked 
slate upon the table, the envelope remaining intact; a word 
written between slates screwed together and also corded and 
sealed together, the word being chosen by the witness, after 
the slates were fastened by himself, etc. And yet, though 
* autographic ' fragments of pencil were ' heard ' weav- 



The Psychology of Deception 57 

ing mysterious messages between and under and over slates, 
and fragments of chalk were seen moving about under a 
tumbler placed above the table in full view, none of the sit- 
ters witnessed that best phenomenon, — Mr. Davey writ- 
ing" 

Doctor Hodgson pointed out four factors that were opera- 
tive in vitiating practically all reports of slate- writing phe- 
nomena, these faults being found in practically all the 
reports examined. They were omission, substitution, trans- 
position, and interpolation. He says : x 

" Suppose that we are considering the testimony of the 
witness to his own separate and complete examination of a 
slate immediately previous to the apparent production of 
writing. Then, according to what I have been saying, we 
have, with a perfectly bona-fide witness, four possibilities to 
consider, besides the one that his impression is correct. It 
may actually be that no examination at all was made by the 
witness (interpolation) ; it may be that, although made, the 
examination was not made in the perfect manner now de- 
scribed (substitution) ; it may be that the examination, al- 
though faultless and made at the sitting, was not made on 
the occasion alleged (transposition) ; or it may be that, al- 
though the examination was made as described, and on the 
occasion alleged, events, perhaps unnoticed or regarded by 
the witness as insignificant, intervened between the examina- 
tion and the apparent production of the writing (omission)." 

Many of my readers may feel somewhat insulted at this 
accusation that they cannot detect such obvious trickery 
when it exists, and that they are liable to make such mistakes 
in recording a seance as those here mentioned. They may 
comfort themselves with the thought, however, that it is no 
disgrace to make mistakes and errors of this kind; for, as 
Professor Jastrow pointed out : 2 

" The matter is in some aspects as much a technical ac- 
quisition as in the diagnosticating of a disease. It is not at 
all to the discredit of any one's powers of observation or 

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV., pp. 388-9. 

2 Fact and Fable in Psychology, p. 148. 



58 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

intellectual acumen to be deceived by the performances of 
a conjurer; and the same holds true of the professional part 
of mediumistic phenomena. Until this homely but salutary 
truth is impressed with all its importance upon all intending 
investigators, there is little hope of bringing about a proper 
attitude toward these and kindred phenomena." 

It must be remembered that the observer, at a spiritualistic 
seance, is not in a normal state of mind, but is in a condition 
of more or less suppressed excitement, induced by the condi- 
tions of the seance itself. It is only natural that it should be 
so. There is a certain mysterious atmosphere about a seance 
— and particularly a dark seance — calculated to disturb 
the nerves of the most hardened. The darkness, the intense 
expectancy that something will happen, we cannot say what, 
the quiet, the playing upon the emotions — it is all calculated 
to take the sitter out of his workaday world into another, 
and, to just that extent, render him an uncritical judge of 
what transpires, and incapable of detecting what fraud the 
medium may be disposed to offer in the name of spiritualism. 
Needless to say, therefore, this attitude of mind makes it easy 
for the medium to entrap his sitters, and to impose upon 
their credulity to a far greater extent than would be the case 
were they in possession of their full critical faculties. To 
just that extent, therefore, the medium has an advantage 
over the conjurer, since, in the latter case, the spectators 
already know that the effects they see are merely the result 
of fraud, and come prepared to detect the trick. In the 
case of the medium, on the other hand, the sitters are not 
assured that the effects they see are the results of trickery ; 
they may be the results of some genuine supernormal power. 
The very possibility of the fact that it " may be " the latter 
puts them off their guard, to a certain degree, and so renders 
the task of the medium so much the lighter. 1 Just as the ob- 
server, of old, was awed by beholding some phenomenon, pro- 
duced in the presence of the necromancer, so is the modern 

1 " A medium of experience can always outwit a looker-on, even more 
than a conjurer, because a conjurer would not be allowed to play the antics 
which we can." — Confessions of a Medium, p. 139. 



The Psychology of Deception 59 

investigator similarly awed by the production of phenomena 
produced in the presence of a medium. 

An example of the effect of this mental attitude is found 
in the following passage, which is an account of a material- 
izing seance, and what took place there. " We cannot doubt 
that many a spiritualist has found his convictions confirmed 
at some seance by displays of the most paltry impostures, 
who would, had he attended the seance under the assurance 
that he was about to witness a conjuring performance, have 
detected the modus operandi instantly. I may give an in- 
stance which came under my own observation. At a mate- 
rialization seance given by Firman, at which I was present, a 
supposed ' spirit form ' appeared, draped in a semi-trans- 
parent flowing robe, so transparent, in fact, that Firman's 
bare arm was visible behind it, waving it to and fro. When 
the figure retired to the cabinet, the door was closed upon a 
portion of the robe. The door opened again slightly, and 
the end of the robe was drawn into the cabinet. Most of 
the sitters perceived this clearly, but one, a ' believer,' averred 
conscientiously that the fabric was not withdrawn, and that 
he saw it slowly melt away." x 

If these defects are to be found in the individual observer, 
they are to be found more strongly developed in a crowd, 
as such, whose opinion is always worth far less than the 
opinion of each individual in that crowd. G. Le Bon showed 
this very clearly, in his remarkable work, The Crowd: A 
Study of the Popular Mind. Here he says : 

" A crowd, perpetually hovering on the borderland of 
unconsciousness, readily yielding to all suggestions, having 
all the violence of feeling peculiar to beings who cannot ap- 
peal to the influence of reason, deprived of all critical faculty, 
cannot be otherwise than excessively credulous. The im- 
probable does not exist for a crowd, and it is necessary to 
bear this circumstance well in mind to understand the facility 
with which are created and propagated the most improbable 
legends and stories. ... It is not necessary that a crowd 
should be numerous for the faculty of seeing what is taking 
1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV., pp. 389-90. 



60 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

place before its eyes to be destroyed, and for the real facts 
to be replaced by hallucinations unrelated to them. As soon 
as a few individuals are gathered together they constitute 
a crowd, and, though they should be distinguished men of 
learning, they assume all the characteristics of crowds with 
regards to matters outside their specialty. The faculty of 
observation and the critical spirit possessed by each of them 
individually at once disappears. ... In the collective mind 
the intellectual aptitude of the individuals, and in consequence 
their individuality, are weakened. . . . The characteristics 
of the reasoning of crowds are the association of dissimilar 
things possessing a merely apparent connection between each 
other, and the immediate generalization of particular cases." 
See also, in this connection, the chapter on " The Atmosphere 
of Assemblies," on pp. 48-9 of Psychic Studies, by Franklin 
Johnson. 

These remarks will make it clear to us why many men of 
science have been deceived by very simple tricks and fraudu- 
lent devices, while investigating spiritualistic phenomena — ■ 
their scientific culture is no guarantee that they are any 
more capable of detecting fraud than is the man-in-the-street, 
— in fact their training has made them very much less capa- 
ble of detecting fraud than the average person, who comes 
more in contact with the world, and is an acuter judge of 
character and human nature. Unless the other qualifications 
of a man of science entitle his judgment to especial respect 
in this particular field, therefore, we should not give it any 
greater weight than the opinions of any other investigator, 
merely because he is a scientific man. As Mr. Podmore 
pointed out, "... men of general culture and even men of 
science are not specially qualified to detect conjuring tricks. 
... It is pertinent to point out that conjurers, even eminent 
conjurers, have themselves admitted the genuineness of some 
of these suspected manifestations." 1 

I have insisted that the account of a spiritualistic seance 
is generally valueless for the reason that lapse of memory 
renders the after-account defective, just as malobservation 
1 Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., p. 204. 



The Psychology of Deception 61 

renders the memory picture of the events erroneous. It may 
be replied to this that the accounts of many seances are not 
open to this double objection, for the reason that the after- 
account was written from notes made at the time. I would 
reply to this that these " notes " have been made in very few 
instances, so few, indeed, as to be entirely omitted from con- 
sideration, when taking into account the whole history of the 
subject. But, even in these few cases, where notes were taken, 
it is impossible to take notes of this character, while the phe- 
nomena are in progress, and have them accurately represent 
what is transpiring. Either the note-taker must take very 
brief and ineffectual notes of the phenomena in progress, 
which would be of very little assistance to him in drawing up 
a detailed report of the seance, or the notes may be full, and 
in that case, the note-taker must, necessarily, have missed 
observing some of the phenomena, or some of the movements 
of the medium in producing the phenomena, while taking 
the notes ; and, in that case, too, the notes are of little assist- 
ance in telling us what actually transpired at a given seance. 
Professor Hyslop found what a difficult task it was, — this 
attempting to take notes at a spiritualistic seance, — and 
says : * 

"... I went prepared to take notes, which I did. But 
I came to the conclusion that I could take but a very small 
part of the notes necessary to give a clear and full account 
of such performances. I moreover concluded also that five 
minutes after the performance of any trick my memory was 
not good enough to recall important facts which would be 
necessary to tell the story rightly and fully to one who had 
not observed it. But the most important conclusion was that 
many things took place which I could not observe at all, as 
the sequel showed to be true." How widely the accounts of 
a trained and an untrained observer may differ, when describ- 
ing the same event, may be seen by comparing the descrip- 
tions of Sir William Crookes and Miss Florence Marryat, 
e. g. f of a certain materialization. Crookes's account is to be 
found in his Researches; Miss Marry at's in her book, There 
1 Borderland of Psychical Research, p. 226. 



62 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Is No Death. The accounts are compared in Journal S. P. R. 9 
Vol. XII., p. 268. 

In addition to all the above methods of deception, there are, 
of course, numerous others which the professional medium 
employs in order to deceive his sitter. It would take too long 
for me to enumerate all these here, but I must mention one 
or two others that are in frequent use, for the reason that 
they are of more or less general application. The first is 
that the medium often assumes a certain ignorance of events 
and languages, etc., so that when these events are given 
through " the spirits," at a seance, they will have the appear- 
ance of being supernormally imparted information. Many 
mediums, again, have a smattering of several languages, but 
will state, on being asked, that they know only English. The 
reason for their doing this is that, when messages are written 
on the slate, e. g., the sitter is all the more dumbfounded, for 
the reason that he now has two " miracles " to explain, in- 
stead of only one — the writing on the slates and the con- 
tent of the message. The author of The Revelations of a 
Spirit Medium asserts (p. 14) that this is very frequently 
done by mediums. 

If the sitters, at any given seance, are more than usually 
acute and watchful, the medium is sure to notice this, and, 
in all probability, the result will be a " blank seance," no 
phenomena at all being forthcoming. The medium always 
goes on the principle that it is far better to have a blank 
seance than an exposure, and in this he is, of course, quite 
right. An exposure is irredeemable, while a blank seance 
may be attributed to bad conditions, indisposition, lack of 
power, and what not. Mr. Davey wrote, in this connection: 
" If the performer has any reason to think that any part of 
his trick will be seen, he can take refuge in a blank seance; 
nor would it generally be the case that if the trick were partly 
performed the observance of strict conditions by the sitter 
would result not merely in failure, but in exposure. ... I 
have several times had to deal with this danger, and have 
always been successful." The author of The Confessions of 
a Medium stated that " it does good to have an occasional 



The Psychology of Deception 63 

failure" (p. 89), while we know that, in the case of Eglin- 
ton, at any rate, the seance was continued, in spite of an 
"exhaustion of power" (so the medium stated), and the 
spirits induced to continue the phenomena by means of a 
double fee ! " The medium yielded without hesitation, and 
■ the spirits ' continued to give excellent manifestations." x 

It would be a thankless task to continue this chapter 
further. The interested reader will find the subject of the 
psychology of deception ably handled by Professor Norman 
Triplett in The Americcm Journal of Psychology, XL, No. 
4, July, 1900, in an article entitled " The Psychology of 
Conjuring Deceptions." The whole subject is there treated 
in a very full and exhaustive manner. 2 My object, in the 
present chapter, is to show that the medium employs very 
much the same devices and artifices in his production of 
mediumistic phenomena, and to elucidate the problems: why 
persons, otherwise acute and intelligent, should be so easily 
deceived by such simple tricks and illusions. I trust the 
reasons for this deception are now made a trifle more clear, 
and that the reader will feel that, after all, he may have 
been deceived by the simplest devices possible. As soon as 
this possibility is realized, we may expect many more exposes 
of fraudulent mediums than are now forthcoming. 

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV., p. 364 

' See also Sidis: The Psychology of Suggestion, etc. 



CHAPTER IV 

TABLE - TURNING AND TABLE - LIFTING 

Probably no phenomena are more intimately connected, 
in the public mind, with the spiritistic movement than those 
of table-turning and table-lifting. The reason for this is 
not, I think, hard to find. There can be no doubt that a 
large part of the phenomena, at least, are genuine, however 
we may choose to interpret them. I mean by this that the 
table does, in very many cases, actually rise from off the 
floor; and, whether the ultimate explanation be fraud, un- 
conscious muscular action, electricity, spirits, or what not, 
a large share of the public's attention is inevitably bound 
to be directed toward phenomena that do actually occur, 
since the vast bulk of these table-turning experiments have 
been conducted in private home circles, where fraud was 
practically excluded, to all appearances. Before we proceed 
further, then, and in order to avoid misunderstanding, I 
shall briefly describe the phenomena that are observed, and 
state the explanations that are generally accepted by the sci- 
entific world, by way of accounting for the phenomena which 
it agrees to consider genuine. 

A number of persons sit around a table, small or large, 
as the case may be ; in the light or dark, as the case may be. 
Each member of the circle places his hands gently on the 
table-top, and leaves them there quietly for a longer or 
shorter time, as may be necessary, before the phenomena 
begin. After a time, the table is seen to tremble, quiver, and, 
generally, it will move about the room, under the sitters' 
hands, without any one apparently pushing it in the least ; in 
fact, if the sitters are questioned, they will, almost invari- 

64 



Table-turning and Table-lifting 65 

ably, state that the table is pulling and pushing them about 
the room! In this belief the sitters are, in all probability, 
perfectly honest. The feeling is exactly as if the table was 
possessed with an intelligent force of its own, and had gotten 
beyond the control of the sitters. The facts (these phenom- 
ena) science no longer doubts. That tables do act in the 
manner described (apparently, at least), she no longer denies. 
The sole difficulty lies in the interpretation of the facts ; in 
the explanation that is given of the phenomena observed. 1 

It is not within the province of this book to study the his- 
torical evidence — this will be found fully discussed by Mr. 
Podmore, in his Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., pp. 1-21. 
The whole subject is there treated in a very masterly fashion, 
though one feels that the writer is, perhaps, at times, a little 
prejudiced. 2 As a typical example of what a table apparently 
does, at seances of the kind, I quote the following account 
of a seance (at which he himself was present), contributed 
by Professor W. F. Barrett to the Proceedings S. P. R., 
Vol. IV., pp. 25-42, the paper being entitled " On Some 
Phenomena, Commonly Called Spiritualistic, Witnessed by 
the Author." The account reads, in part, as follows: 

"... Whilst noticing these facts, I observed a frequent 
uneasy movement of the entire table, and now it sidled about 
in a most surprising manner. Lifting their hands completely 
off the table, the sitters placed themselves back in their chairs 
with their hands folded across their chests; their feet were 
in full view, and, under these conditions, and in obedience to 
my request, the table raised the two legs nearest to me com- 
pletely off the ground, some eight or ten inches, and thus 
suspended itself for a few moments. Again a similar act 
was performed on the other side. Next came a very unex- 
pected occurrence. Whilst absolutely free from the contact 
of every person, the table wiggled itself backward and for- 

1 " The Phenomena are genuine. The hypothesis which spiritualists en- 
deavour to build on these phenomena is altogether another thing." — The 
Philosophy of Spiritualism, by F. R. Marvin, M. D., p. 24. 

2 1 particularly had in mind Podmore's criticism of M. Gasparin's ex- 
periments (Studies in Psychical Research, p. 47) when writing" this. His 
conjectures seem to me — in the face of the existing evidence — some- 
what unwarranted. 



66 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

ward, advancing toward the armchair in which I sat, and 
ultimately completely imprisoning me in my seat. During 
its progress, it was followed by Mr. L. and Miss I., but they 
were at no time touching it, and occasionally were so distant 
that I could perceive a free space all round the table whilst 
it was still in motion. When thus under my very nose, the 
table rose repeatedly, and enabled me to be perfectly sure 
by the evidence of touch that it was off the ground, and, 
further, that no human being, consciously or unconsciously, 
had any part in this movement. . . . Suddenly, only the 
tips of our fingers being on the table, the heavy loo table at 
which we were sitting made a series of very violent prancing 
movements (which I could not imitate afterward except by 
using both hands and all my strength) ; the blows were so 
heavy that I hurriedly stopped the performance, fearing for 
the safety of the gas chandelier in the room below " (pp. 
34-5). 

Now, in reading over the above account, it will be seen that 
two facts stand out with special prominence. (1) That the 
table moved without any contact whatever, at times when 
none of the sitters' hands were upon the table at all ; and (2) 
that the table appeared to possess a power or force of its 
own, and even greater, in strength, than that possessed by 
the sitters. The first of these points I shall reserve for con- 
sideration later on; for the present I desire to centre our 
attention upon the other consideration, viz., that the table 
appeared to possess a force independent of, and even exer- 
cised in opposition to, the conscious intentions of the sitters 
through whose agency the table moved at all. Further, this 
force appeared to be equal to, or even greater than, any mus- 
cular force that the sitters could themselves exercise. 1 

It was only natural, when these phenomena first appeared, 
and when so little was known of subconscious muscular 
action and the power of suggestion, that the readiest ex- 
planation should have been the one accepted, and that 
" spirits " should have been given the credit for such phe- 
nomena, especially as spiritualism was just then coming into 
1 See Dodd's Spirit Manifestations. 



Table-turning and Table-lifting 67 

prominence, and other phenomena of a like nature were 
attributed to their agency. Some force was at work, that 
was certain; and that force was frequently an intelligent 
force ; of that fact there was no doubt either. The spiritistic 
explanation was the one that would most naturally be adopted 
by all persons who had no a priori objections to spirit, as 
such. As the scientific world had such objections, they began 
to search elsewhere for a cause, and were not long in finding 
one that partially explained the facts observed, at any rate, 
and without recourse to spirits, or even to anything super- 
normal whatsoever. 

The first step toward a scientific explanation of the ob- 
served phenomena was taken by Professor Faraday, who 
invented a little instrument which would register the uncon- 
scious muscular actions of any person placing his or her 
hands upon it. By means of this little instrument, Professor 
Faraday was enabled to show that all persons exercised a 
more or less powerful " push and pull " action, they being 
quite unconscious of such muscular exertion; and Professor 
Jastrow further conclusively proved, in a careful series of 
experiments conducted some years ago, that not only is this 
action present and operative in all normal individuals, but 
that this push and pull corresponded invariably with the 
expectation of the sitter, who had his hands on the board. 1 
Unless the evidence in the case renders this hypothesis un- 
tenable, therefore, we must always assume that unconscious 
muscular action is the true and sufficient explanation of the 
phenomena of table-tipping, of ouija and planchette writing, 
and all kindred phenomena. 

Of course, such muscular action is not by any means al- 
ways unconscious. It may be perfectly conscious — inten- 
tional fraud. That this has been practised very frequently, 
in such cases, cannot be doubted. Thus, Truesdell tells us, 
e. g. t that he detected one medium in the act of tipping a 
table by observing the unnaturally white appearance of the 
medium's finger-nails, " the unmistakable evidence that she 
was bearing heavily on the opposite side of the table." 2 But 

1 Fact and Fable in Psychology, pp. 307-36. 2 Bottom Facts, p 37. 



68 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

I wish it to be understood that this muscular pressure, while 
it may be conscious and fraudulent in many cases, is not 
necessarily so, and, when the evidence in the case, or the 
moral character of the medium, renders this assumption im- 
possible or repulsive, it should not be urged, as unconscious 
muscular action will perform precisely the same marvels, 
without the knowledge of the medium, and this is the explana- 
tion that should be adopted. As will presently be shown, the 
real problem only begins when this is assumed and granted ! 

There is a great deal of evidence that goes to show that 
this unconscious muscular force is frequently stronger and 
more powerful than the individual could consciously control 
or summon. (Perhaps the fact that the vital functions of the 
body are under the control of the "unconscious mind " may 
be the explanation of this fact?) At all events, we know 
that in moments of extreme fear or excitement, when the 
conscious mind is largely in abeyance, many acts are per- 
formed which would be quite impossible to the normal in- 
dividual, being beyond his normal muscular ability. Car- 
penter gives an example of very much the same thing in his 
Mesmerism, Spiritualism, etc. (p. 128), stating that, " Braid 
(in my presence) enabled a man so remarkable for the pov- 
erty of his physique, that he had not for many years ven- 
tured to lift a weight of twenty pounds, to take up a weight 
of twenty-eight pounds upon his little finger, and swing it 
around his head, with the greatest apparent ease. Neither 
Mr. Braid nor his son, both of them powerful men, could do 
anything like this ; and I could not myself lift the same 
weight on my little finger to more than half my own height. 
Trickery in this case was obviously impossible, since, if the 
subject had been trained to such feats, the effect of such train- 
ing would have become visible in his muscular development." 

Additional and very convincing evidence is afforded by a 
careful study of the phenomena of " dowsing," i. e., the 
movements of a forked twig or branch, in the hands of a 
" dowser," when he walks over underground water, metals, 
etc. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that there is 
" nothing in it " beyond the movement of the twig, which is 



Table-turning and Table-lifting 69 

undoubted. Let us further assume that this movement of the 
twig is due to the unconscious muscular action on the part of 
the dowser. 1 

The interesting point is this: that the rod frequently 
manifests a tremendous force, quite beyond the will or control 
of the dowser, and frequently in direct opposition to his will 
and belief. I quote a few cases by way of illustration. On 
pp. 278-9, Proceedings S. P. R., Professor Barrett gives a 
number of cases (mentioned in his previous report, in Vol. 
XIII.), of which the following are samples. Mr. Enys, 
F. G. S., who is an amateur dowser, states " the rod broke off 
short in front of my hands, and did so a second time in the 
same place." Miss Grantham (daughter of Judge Grant- 
ham), describing what occurred with the Rev. J. Blunt, an- 
other amateur dowser, states : " So strong was the impulse, 
that we found unless Mr. B. relaxed his hold, the twig broke 
off near his fingers." Lady Milbanke, also an amateur 
dowser, had the same experience (p. 42). Similar cases 
could be quoted ad libitum. The point is that none of these 
persons, in the normal state, could consciously produce these 
phenomena, by any muscular action on their part, and we 
have no evidence that any of them were in an abnormal con- 
dition when the experiments were progressing. They could 
not voluntarily and consciously bend the twig in this manner, 
and produce the phenomena observed. The obvious conclu- 
sion to be drawn is that the body can unconsciously exercise 
a far greater amount of energy than the conscious mind can 
control ; as Professor Barrett says, " in hypnosis, somnam- 
bulism, hysteria, etc., subjects can perform muscular feats 
impossible to them in their normal, self-conscious state " (p. 
278, Vol. XV.). If this fact be granted, the mystery of 

1 This is, in fact, the theory held by Professor Barrett, who contributed 
to the Proceedings S. P. R. two lengthy reports on the subject, in Vol. 
XIII., pp. 2-282, and Vol. XV., pp. 130-383, respectively, — though the 
evidence conclusively proved to his mind that the faculty of dowsing 
really existed, being, probably, somewhat akin to clairvoyance in its char- 
acter or essence. That, however, is in answer to the question, How did 
the knowledge of when to (unconsciously) bend the twig enter the dowser's 
mind? As before stated, the actual movement he considered due to un- 
conscious muscular action. 



70 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

table-tipping, ouija and planchette, vanish, whenever con- 
tact is allowed, i. e., whenever the sitters are allowed to place 
their hands on the table, ever so lightly. 1 

Having now (I hope) established the fact that the move- 
ments of a table, however violent and however much beyond 
the control of the sitter, may be due solely to unconscious 
muscular action, whenever contact is permitted, we pass to 
consider another aspect of the problem. 

The fact that the table moves so frequently in direct oppo- 
sition to the will and expectation of the sitter or medium 
would seem, at first sight, to disprove the arguments (above 
referred to) of Jastrow and others, viz., that the table or 
object always moves in the direction in which the sitter's 
attention is focussed: in short, in the direction in which it 
is expected to move. But, rightly considered, the facts do 
not prove this, as can be readily shown. 

That part of the mind which moves the table, in these ex- 
periments, is the subconscious, the " subliminal conscious- 
ness," or at least one stratum of that consciousness. Now, 
it has often been proved that the thoughts uppermost in the 
conscious mind are not by any means those uppermost 
in the subconscious mind — far from it. The two minds 2 
may be running in entirely opposite or different grooves. 
Consequently, the conscious mind may be expecting one thing 
— that the table will move to the right, let us say ; and, at 
the same time the subconscious mind may be expecting the 
very opposite — that the table will move to the left! The 

1 In this connection, I would refer the reader to the very interesting 
account of the Japanese " possessions," given by Mr. Percival Lowell, in 
his Occult Japan. He states that, in all cases of possession, a wand is 
used, called the Gohei, held in the right hand, which is supposed to act 
as a kind of intermediary between the man and the god. It is interesting 
to note, in this connection, that the rod is always moved first before the 
worshipper is consciously affected, and that the wand soon becomes 
uncontrollable (like the divining rod), until it appears " as if the wand 
shook the man, not the man it " (p. 6). This is like the tail wagging the 
dog! 

2 Two minds. I have used this expression pro tern, for convenience — 
not because I accept the Hudsonian " two mind " theory in principle. 
In writing this book, I have had to assume that a large portion of my 
readers are unfamiliar with the theories held on these subjects, and have 
chosen forcible language purposely, even though the finer psychological 
distinctions are sacrificed thereby. 



Table-turning and Table-lifting 71 

table, of course, moves to the left, in accordance with the law ; 
but, since the conscious mind did not direct the movement, 
it is apparently in direct contradiction to the law, whereas 
it is, in reality, in direct accordance with it. I am unaware 
that this aspect of the problem has ever been worked out in 
detail before. 

Thus far Science is willing to go, but no further! She 
is willing to admit that certain phenomena occur, which are 
comprehended within the above outlined theory. But when 
she is confronted with phenomena requiring an explanation, 
such, e. g., as the levitation of a table without any contact 
whatever, she refuses to consider them, calmly asserting 
that they are impossible, and consequently do not occur at 
all! This is hardly the scientific attitude in which to ap- 
proach the subject, it is true; but it is the one adopted by 
most scientific men, nevertheless. They explain all they can 
of the phenomena, and the remainder they assert do not 
exist. The position of the scientific world is summed up, 
perhaps, by Professor Binet, when he says : 

" As for the table-turners, it has long been demonstrated 
and that, too, by the most exact researches, that they turn 
simply from the impelling influence of the hands." * 

All this is very good and very logical, so far as it goes; 
the trouble is that it does not go far enough. Granting 
all the above to be correct, it can readily be shown, as I stated 
before, that the real problem has only just begun. The 
scientific explanation does not take into account, or attempt 
to explain, any cases where the table has been raised off the 
ground without contact, and there are very many instances 
on record, one case being quoted above. How are such 
phenomena to be explained? It is useless to deny them, 
merely, as that does not satisfy any fair-minded man. Doc- 
tor Carpenter attempted this method, and was mercilessly 
flayed alive, so to speak, by Andrew Lang, in his Cock Lane 
and Common Sense, pp. 319-21. (See also his Historical 
Mysteries, pp. 185-8.) 

But it will be obvious that the great unexplained problem 
1 Alterations of Personality, p. 327. 



72 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

still remains. To the scientifically minded psychical re- 
searcher, the puzzling question is, not what moves the table, 
but does the table give any information unknown to the 
sitters? The interesting problem is not a physical but a 
psychological one, so far as the proof of spiritualism goes, 
that is. Many spiritualists are quite willing to admit that 
the movements of the table can all be accounted for by un- 
conscious muscular action, but the question is, does the table 
(by raps, tilts, etc.) impart any information which was not 
in the minds of the sitters, at the time of the experiments? 
If so, then it is obvious that the explanations at present in 
vogue do not explain, but that we must search further, if we 
are to account rationally for the phenomena observed. 

These remarks apply equally to all automatic phenomena ; 
to ouija and planchette writing, to regular automatic writing, 
etc., as well as to table-tipping. Many persons have an idea 
that the phenomena are " explained " if once it is shown 
that the planchette or ouija board, or the table, is moved by 
the unconscious muscular action on the part of the medium. 
But it is evident to any one who thoroughly understands the 
problem, that the difficulties only begin when all this is 
granted. Granting that the board is pushed, or the table 
tipped, etc., by unconscious (or conscious) muscular action 
on the part of the medium, the real question at issue then 
arises, viz., is the imparted information within the knowl- 
edge of any of the sitters, or must it have been obtained in 
some supernormal manner? That is the real question to be 
solved. 

It was necessary for me to go into this detail, when con- 
sidering the phenomena of table-tipping, as these automatic 
phenomena are much misunderstood by the public, and I have 
chosen the phenomena of table-tipping to illustrate a general 
principle, applicable alike to all automatic phenomena. 
When once the real problem in the case is adequately under- 
stood by the public, much of the hard feelings and misunder- 
standings of the past will disappear. 

It will thus be evident that there are two distinct problems 
for us to consider, apart from the phenomena which science 



Table-turning and Table-lifting 73 

admits as genuine. (1) The alleged movements of objects 
without contact; and (2) the evidence of knowledge pos- 
sessed by " the table," unknown to the sitters, and apparently 
supernormally acquired. I cannot stop to consider either 
of these questions in this place, however, but will return to 
them later on. On pp. 358-71, and pp. 410-14, respectively, 
they will be found discussed at some length. In the present 
chapter I shall accordingly dismiss that part of our inquiry 
and turn to a consideration of the various methods in which 
a table can be made to tilt, and even to be entirely levitated 
from off the floor, by fraudulent means. The measures that 
have been adopted to obtain this result, — the means em- 
ployed in fraudulently producing the phenomena, — I shall 
now discuss in detail. 

Let us suppose a number of persons seated around a 
table. The table rises up, first on one side and then on the 
other, until, finally, all four legs are off the floor at the same 
time. Occasionally, though not always, the sitters' hands 
are now removed, and the table is seen to be suspended in 
space, without visible support. How are these results accom- 
plished? By very simple devices, in the majority of cases; 
the actual means employed depending on the circumstances 
of the case. The principal methods employed are the follow- 
ing: 

If the seance is held in the dark, or in semi-darkness, 
of course the medium's task is easy enough. If he is work- 
ing alone, without confederates, he has only to press heavily 
on his side of the table, in order to cause an upward tilt on 
the side opposite to him, or, he may place his feet under one 
or both of the table-legs, and, by elevating his legs, and at 
the same time steadying the table with his hands, he can 
cause the table to be " levitated " in a very remarkable man- 
ner. By merely pushing the table about in various ways, an 
endless variety of phenomena can be produced. By raising 
the knees, the table can be levitated in much the same manner, 
the table being steadied by the hands. If the medium has 
a confederate, they work in pairs, the confederate being 
placed at a point diametrically opposite the medium, so that 



74 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the table is directly between them. The knees may then be 
employed with tremendous effect. Another method that could 
be employed in a dark seance is for the confederate to lift 
up his side of the table with one knee, while the medium 
raises his side by placing his head under the table, and lifting 
it up with his neck and shoulders. His hands can be left on 
the table, during this manoeuvre, and held by members of the 
circle on either side. This, when well executed, is a very 
convincing " levitation." Of course medium and confederate 
can reverse the roles, if desired. 

All the above methods are primitive, however, and would 
hardly be employed by any professional medium, as being 
too obvious. The majority of mediums who profess to tip 
tables employ more or less apparatus, the principal methods 
employed being the following: 

Suppose a small, light table is to be levitated. This the 
medium does by placing his hands upon the top of it. The 
table is now seen to follow the hands of the medium, and may 
be lifted off the floor and swung about at will, adhering to 
the medium's hands throughout. On removing his hands, 
they and the table can at once be examined, but no sticky 
material or other device is found to explain the mystery. 
The secret is this. The medium wears a ring on one of his 
fingers, a plain, gold band. In one side of this ring has been 
cut a slit, extending about half-way across it. When the 
medium's hands are first shown, this section is slipped around 
to the back of the hand, but at all other times the slit side 
is turned inward, toward the palm. In the centre of the table 
is driven an extra stout pin, having a wide head, and all the 
medium has to do, in order to successfully " levitate " the 
table, is to slip the niche in his ring under the pin-head, on 
the table, and, on lifting up his hand, it will be found that 
the table adheres to it closely, and that the hand may be 
moved or waved about in almost any direction, without the 
table becoming detached. When the table is again placed 
on the floor, the medium presses upward strongly with his 
hands, thereby extracting the pin from the table, which may 
then be examined. A twist of the ring on the medium's 



Table-turning and Table-lifting 75 

finger, and his hands may be examined also, the pin having 
been dropped on to the floor or elsewhere in the interval. 
This is a method much employed, and always with good 
effect. 

There is a variation of the above method sometimes em- 
ployed, in which the pin is dispensed with. In its place the 
medium employs a little rubber " sucker," to the centre of 
which is firmly attached a short, broad-headed pin. The 
medium slips the niche in his ring under the head of the pin, 
as in the last instance, and the suction of the moistened 
rubber cup will lift the table off the floor. This method is 
the one that is sometimes employed in " levitating " a bowl 
of water. 

When a large table is to be levitated, the medium gener- 
ally employs an assistant. Both he and his confederate wear, 
strapped to their wrists, under the shirt-cuffs, a stout leather 
band, to which is bolted an iron rod, extending beyond the 
leather cuff about an inch. When they take their places at 
the table, both medium and confederate slip the projecting 
portion of the iron rod under the table, and, as the hand 
rests on the top of the same, it will be seen that a vice-like 
grip can be obtained in this manner, and practically any- 
thing done with the table, so far as tilting and levitation 
are concerned, without any fear of detection ; an examination 
of the feet of all present may be allowed when the manifesta- 
tions are at their height. Sometimes the table may be levi- 
tated without the use of this piece of apparatus, the linen 
cuffs of the medium and his confederate answering every 
requirement. 

Another method is for the medium and his assistant to 
have cords or leather straps passed around their necks, to one 
portion of which is attached a sharp hook. Of course the 
strap is worn under the clothing. The hook is normally sus- 
pended just above the bottom of the waistcoat, but when the 
medium bends forward, this hook falls below the waistcoat, 
and may be hooked to the under side of the table. By merely 
straightening or standing up, the medium and his assistant 



76 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

can now cause the table to be " levitated " in a very fine 
manner ! * 

There is a conjuring trick known as the " floating hat." 
The effect of the trick is this : the performer borrows a hat, 
and, placing his fingers (the tips only) lightly on the crown 
of the hat, it is seen to adhere to them, and the hand may 
be moved in any direction, the hat following them, ap- 
parently drawn by some force of attraction. The secret is 
this: the performer has a loop of black silk thread, about 
three feet long, passed over his head, and hanging down in 
front. The performer has only to secretly introduce the 
borrowed hat into this loop, and press the hat against it, and 
he can move the hat in any direction he sees fit. Some such 
device might doubtless be employed in the case of tables, a 
loop of blackened catgut, e. g. 9 being used for the purpose. 

If the medium has full swing of the seance-room, he can 
cause a table to rise and float in the air without touching it 
at all. This is done by stretching two black threads across 
the room, these passing under the table. The threads are in 
the hands of assistants, who have only to raise the threads 
in their hands in order to " levitate " the table. The medium 
may freely pass his hands over and under the table, during 
the levitation, thus showing that it is not suspended by any 
normal means! 

1 In Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. X., p. 23, Sir Oliver Lodge made the 
remark that he would rather trust to his own powers of observation, in an 
experiment of this kind, than any number of printed records, backed up 
by any number of photographs. In this he was, I think, very wise. On 
p. 113 of Around the World with a Magician and a Juggler will be found a 
photograph of a table levitated by fraudulent means — it is impossible to 
see how. 



CHAPTER V 

RAPS 

Inasmuch as raps were the first phenomena ever observed 
in the history of modern spiritualism (being the first phe- 
nomena produced through the agency of the first mediums, 
the Fox sisters), their consideration becomes of great im- 
portance to us, if only from this, historic, standpoint. At 
this late date it is impossible to say whether the raps ob- 
tained through the Fox sisters were genuine or not. In 
many respects, it would appear from the evidence that the 
raps were at -first genuine. As we shall see later on that 
the evidence for genuine raps occurring in the presence of 
certain individuals is practically overwhelming, and inas- 
much, also, as this fact of the occurrence of raps is not, when 
rightly considered, such an extraordinary phenomenon, I 
do not believe that we shall go far wrong in thinking that 
the raps observed in the presence of the Fox sisters were at 
first genuine. If raps have ever occurred at all, I can see no 
reason for believing that the raps, in this instance, were 
fraudulently produced. 

Be that as it may, however, we have positive evidence that 
the raps observed in their presence when they became pro- 
fessional mediums were fraudulently produced. This evi- 
dence will be found in full in a book by R. B. Davenport, 
entitled The Death Blow to Spiritualism. In this work will 
be found a lengthy historical and critical resume of the phe- 
nomena observed in the presence of these mediums, which I 
cannot now even attempt to summarize. Here we find a sum- 
mary of the famous report on the two mediums by the " Buf- 

77 



78 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

f alo Doctors," — Drs. Austin Flint, Chas. A. Lee, and C. B. 
Coventry. Their report is inconclusive, it is true, since fraud 
was not directly proved; but, inasmuch as the rappings took 
place only where fraud was possible, and altogether ceased 
as soon as strict test-conditions were imposed, the phenomena 
obviously prove nothing. An investigation by several Har- 
vard professors was also inconclusive in results (p. 147). 
It must also be remembered that the investigations of the 
Seybert Commission were entirely unsatisfactory. 1 But the 
real evidence of fraud was supplied by the mediums them- 
selves, both of them furnishing a written statement to the 
effect that the rappings observed in their presence were due 
to fraud (v. pp. 25-38, and 53-9), and stating that the raps 
were produced by the joints of the toes and feet (p. 38 ). 2 
But, as before stated, the evidence counts for nothing, from 
a scientific standpoint, and must be altogether left out of 
account. Whether raps occur or not is a question that can 
be settled to-day, without referring back to the case of the 
Fox sisters, which has no evidential value whatever. My 
object, for the moment, is not to consider the historical cases, 
and their evidential value, but to consider the raps themselves, 
and the methods that can be, and are, employed in fraudu- 
lently reproducing them. To this aspect of the problem I 
accordingly turn. 

It is scarcely necessary to remark that, in cases where the 
raps are obtained on the medium's own table, etc., the table 
should be subjected to a thorough examination, since there 
are tables made, called " rapping-tables," which contain a 
hidden mechanism for producing raps, this being under the 
control of the medium. 3 So skilfully are these contrivances 
concealed, however, that it is practically useless to attempt 
to find them without taking the table to pieces, and a far 

1 See Report of the Seybert Commission, pp. 32-48. 

2 It is only fair to these mediums to state that one — if not both — 
recanted their " confessions " before dying (See Journal S. P. R., Vol. III., 
p. 360 ; Vol. IV., pp. 15-16). The statements of mediums of this char- 
acter evidently cannot be relied upon — unless proof of the statements 
made be forthcoming. 

3 A full description of the construction of one of these tables, with illus- 
trations, etc., will be found on p. 101 of Hopkins's Magic, Stage Illusions, etc. 



Raps 79 

simpler method would be for the sitter to request raps on 
other articles of furniture — chairs, walls, etc. Even here 
we can have no guarantee that the chair is not a " rapping- 
chair," and that confederates of the medium are not busy 
knocking on the floor, ceiling, and walls of the room, which 
has, in fact, often been done. Raps in the home of the pro- 
fessional medium can, in fact, be obtained in so many differ- 
ent ways that they are of no evidential value whatever, and 
I accordingly pass to a consideration of the methods em- 
ployed by the medium to obtain raps in the sitter's own home, 
where mechanism or preparation may be considered out of 
the question, generally speaking. 

One very simple method of obtaining raps is the following. 
The medium places his boot-heel against the table-leg, press- 
ing firmly. By gradually slipping the heel along the table 
or chair leg, a sharp " rap " will be the result. The medium 
must exercise a certain amount of care to ensure his foot 
slipping only the right distance, for otherwise several suc- 
cessive raps would be produced, more than the medium wished 
for, in fact! This degree of pressure cannot be explained, 
but it can be very easily felt by any one making the experi- 
ment for himself, and generally is acquired very easily. The 
rap is located by the medium as occurring on the top of the 
table, and is consequently heard there by the sitter! This 
inability to locate sound correctly is a peculiar fact which I 
have discussed at some length on p. 101, in the chapter on 
" Slate-writing," and consequently shall not repeat the ar- 
guments here. 

Another method of producing raps is for the medium to 
slightly moisten his fingers, and press them firmly on the 
table-top. Now, by simply sliding his fingers very gently 
and slightly over the table, distinct raps are produced, of a 
very convincing character. The same method of precaution 
is necessary here that applied in the last case. 

Still another method is for the medium to place his two 
thumb-nails together, pressing them firmly against the wood 
of the table. By slightly slipping one nail up or down, a 



80 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

vibratory impulse is imparted to the table, which exactly 
reproduces the genuine rap. 

A very similar method is that of obtaining raps by a 
gentle rubbing of clothing or linen, especially the shirt-cuffs. 
Such raps as these may, of course, be obtained by a medium 
unconsciously, and in all good faith. Raps, more than any 
other physical phenomena, perhaps, may be fraudulently 
produced by a medium without that person being aware of 
the fact. Leaning more or less heavily on a table (especially 
if it be of light build) will induce a number of creaks and 
sounds resembling raps, especially if the medium says that 
they are such! 

I have already spoken of the method of obtaining raps by 
means of the toe or knee joints, the method employed by the 
Fox sisters. 1 

Again, mediums occasionally employ a little instrument 
which will produce raps when a button is pressed on the 
outside of the box in which it is kept. I have known a 
medium who employed a very ingenious apparatus of this 
kind, worked by electricity. The battery was in his pocket, 
and the box was fitted with a clamp which enabled it to be 
fastened to the under side of the table. Wires connected the 
two. In a dim light the medium was now enabled to retire 
some distance from the table, on which intelligent raps would 
occur, nevertheless. 

Mr. D. C. Cook describes a method somewhat similar to 
the electric device spoken of above. 2 In this case, however, 
the hammer of the apparatus strikes on the boot-heel, which 
is made hollow, in order to form a sounding-box. By press- 
ing the heel against the table-leg, very fine raps on its " sur- 
face " can be obtained. 

The following is a very ingenious method of obtaining 
raps, for which I am indebted to Mr. Henry Hardin, who 
published it in Mahatma, Vol. II., No. 10, April, 1899. 

1 M. Petrovo-Solovovo succeeded in producing raps in this manner 
under better test conditions than the Fox sisters. He completely deceived 
all his sitters (See Journal S. P. R., Vol. VI., pp. 120-1). I have been un- 
able to produce these raps myself, though I have repeatedly tried to do so. 

'Mahatma, Vol. IV., No. 10, April, 1901. 



Raps 81 

" Have a piece of tubing a foot long and about the size 
of a lead-pencil, fitted with a piston, which, on pulling a 
black thread attached to the bottom of the tube, will rise out 
at the top about two-thirds of its length, and, upon releasing 
the pull on the thread, will sink into the tube again. This 
piston should be, in reality, a long, heavy and sharp-pointed 
needle. Now you have a little hammer made of lead, just the 
shape of the rubber top on your lead-pencil. The bottom 
of this should be hollowed out and fitted with a small cork. 
It is evident, now, that this hammer-head may easily be 
stuck at will on the point of the needle-piston, thus forming 
a ' rapper.' The piston should be adjusted to the right 
leg, just below the knee, under the pants, with the sharp end 
up. It must be placed on the side next the left leg, and 
the end of the black thread should come out through a small 
hole in the seam and have a bent black pin attached to it. 
To get the manifestations, you seat yourself at a table with 
several friends, all of whom join hands. Before doing this, 
however, you reach under the table, and hook the bent pin on 
the left leg of your trousers. Now, if this is the right length, 
you can, by separating the knees, cause the long needle- 
piston to force its way up through the pants, and, if you 
then press the little hammer-head, cork side down, on to the 
needle-point, you will have a spirit ready, when you move 
your knees further apart, to rap loudly upon the under side 
of the table. If your friends wish, at any time, to investi- 
gate, you have only to pull off the little hammer-head, unhook 
the thread from the left knee, and the needle-point will sink 
down through the surface of your pant leg, and disappear ; 
and you may get up and walk about with impunity while 
they search for the ghosts." 

Another method of producing raps is for the medium to 
sit close to the table, so that his knee touches the table-leg. 
Now, by pressing against the leg of the table with the knee, 
and slipping it up or down very slightly, a variety of raps 
may be produced. " Professor Manville " states that this 
method is extensively employed. 1 A very simple method is 
1 Spiritualistic Phenomena, etc., p. 9. 



82 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

for the medium to tap the table-leg with his boot-heel. He 
locates the sound on the table-top, and his sitters do the 



same 



There is one further effect I must describe, before leaving 
this section on the fraudulent production of raps. Some 
up-to-date spirits have conceived the original idea of com- 
municating by means of the electric telegraph! They em- 
ploy the Morse or some other system, and the messages are 
ticked out in the regular manner, the instrument being safely 
placed in a wooden box, and no human hand being near the 
key at the time. The seance is conducted in full light, the 
medium transcribing the message on to paper, as it is ticked 
out by the instrument. The test is surely ingenious, and it is 
highly effective. 

Now for the explanation of this apparent marvel. It was 
stated that the instrument was placed in a wooden box, and 
about this there is no trickery. The lid of the box is hinged, 
so that, when it is closed, the instrument is entirely shut off, 
and no human hands can touch the key without opening the 
box. This is supposedly to prevent fraud, but it does, in 
reality, render it possible, being one of the chief agencies in 
the production of the ticks ! To make this clear, a further 
explanation is necessary. 

The telegraph key is, of course, provided with a tension- 
screw, enabling the key to be elevated or depressed at will. 
Before the seance begins, the medium carefully adjusts the 
key so that it will just touch the lid of the box, and so that, 
if the lid of the box is " pressed home " from the outside, 
the key will be depressed sufficiently to cause a click, pre- 
cisely as if the key were pressed by the fingers. The hinges 
are so adjusted that the box will just not close of its own 
weight, a slight pressure being required to close the lid 
tightly. For this reason the key is not pressed down by the 
weight of the box-lid, and until the medium presses on the 
lid with his fingers. This he does by allowing only the edge 
of his palm to touch the box-lid, a slight downward pressure 
being all that is required to force the lid down, and cause the 
instrument to " click." The sitter's attention is absorbed 



Raps 83 

in the translation of the message by the medium, and his 
writing it on paper. The transcription is merely to divert 
attention. 

The only objection to this ingenious piece of apparatus 
was that a slight contact with the lid of the box in which the 
instrument is enclosed was necessary. Various mediums con- 
sequently set to work, trying to improve upon the old method 
by obviating this necessity. Finally they succeeded — they 
devised an instrument through which it is possible to obtain 
messages without any contact with the box-lid at all. This 
was effected by concealing a powerful electro-magnet in the 
table-top, the current being closed or broken, as desired, by 
pressing upon a button concealed on the under side of the 
table. The medium could press this button with his knee, 
thus enabling him to display both hands on the table-top, and 
disposing of the necessity of touching the lid of the box. 



CHAPTER VI 



SLATE - WRITING TESTS 



If we were to read carefully through the historical evi- 
dence for the phenomena of slate-writing, we should find it 
to consist in one long and practically unbroken series of 
exposes of fraud and trickery, with no real evidence worth 
mentioning for the genuine manifestations of any supernor- 
mal power, nor any indication of any force or agency what- 
ever at work beyond the muscles of the medium. 

In short, there is no good evidence, in the whole history 
of spiritualism, for the occurrence of writing on slates by 
other means than such as might have been produced fraudu- 
lently by the medium; and I have gone carefully through 
a vast bulk of spiritualistic literature before making this 
statement. To any one who knows or realizes the innumer- 
able methods that may be employed to trick the sitter, the 
records that are in print are entirely inconclusive, with 
hardly a single exception. The actual methods that are 
employed, this book is intended to expose ; a very fine resume 
of the historical evidence will be found in Podmore's Modern 
Spiritualism, especially p. 240 (Vol. I.), and pp. 204-22 
(Vol. II.). To this discussion I would refer my reader. 
Also to the Report of the Seybert Commission, pp. 6, 8, 
11-12, etc. 

In the present book, I shall only touch upon the historical 
evidence available in the case of two of the most famous slate- 
writing mediums in history, partly as " sample cases," and 
partly because the evidence is instructive in more senses than 
one. For, if the two most prominent slate-writing mediums 
that figure in the history of the subject are shown to be 

84 



Slate-writing Tests 85 

frauds, it is at least highly probable that the cases of slate- 
writing occurring in the presence of mediums of lesser note 
were produced by the same means as they were in the pres- 
ence of the more famous mediums. I shall, therefore, con- 
fine myself to a consideration of the cases of Slade and 
Eglinton, surely two of the greatest slate-writing mediums 
in the history of the subject. The evidence in the case of 
Slade has been discussed on pp. 19-47, and in the present 
chapter I shall, accordingly, confine myself to the phenomena 
obtained through Eglinton's mediumship. 

Though Eglinton was never caught (I believe), in any 
case, in the act of fraudulently producing slate-writing 
" phenomena " (though he was detected in producing fraudu- 
lent "materializations"), his whole life-history is, neverthe- 
less, clouded over with suspicions and doubts. In the early 
days of his career, he collaborated with Mme. Blavatsky in 
the production of a "phenomenally produced" letter, 1 which, 
it was afterward ascertained, was fraudulently produced. 2 
Many other suspicious circumstances are to be noted in the 
career of Eglinton, not the least of which is his persistent 
refusal to meet Mr. Maskelyne, of London, or allow him a 
sitting. 3 I now turn to the more definite evidence obtained 
by the S. P. R., a study of which is most interesting. 

Typical seances occurring in the presence of this medium 
will be found recorded in Proceedings, Vol. IV., pp. 35-8 ; 
Journal, Vol. I., pp. 399-400, and elsewhere. The first sys- 
tematic effort to test the alleged powers of this medium, how- 
ever, was made in 1886, when a very extensive series of sit- 
tings was held by members of the S. P. R., principally, 
the reports of which will be found in Journal, Vol. II., pp. 
282-334. While these sittings were striking in many re- 
spects, they were, in reality, anything but convincing; so 
much so that Mrs. Sidgwick, in summing up the evidence as 
a whole, stated that she had " no hesitation in attributing the 
performances to clever conjuring" (p. 332). This expres- 

1 For an account of this see Psychic Notes, Calcutta, p. 60. 

2 See Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. III., pp. 254-6. 

3 The Supernatural ? p. 196. 



"86 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

sion of opinion naturally brought down upon her head, and 
indeed upon the S. P. It. in general, a storm of criticism 
from spiritualists and others who believed in the reality of 
the phenomena occurring through Eglinton's mediumship. 
But the phenomena were certainly anything but conclusive 
in character. Podmore points out several defects in the evi- 
dence in his Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., pp. 212-3. 
Further doubt was thrown on the supernormal nature of 
the phenomena by the publication in the Journal, Vol. II., 
pp. 362-75, of a very fine paper by " Professor Hoffmann," 
on " How and What to Observe in Relation to Slate-writing 
Phenomena," and several additional letters by Mrs. Sidg- 
wick. But these sittings were ultimately shown to be entirely 
devoid of any real evidential value by Doctor Hodgson, 
who, in a magnificent series of articles, literally tore the 
Reports to pieces, and showed just how fraud might possibly 
have been practised in every single case. 1 So that, although 
no proof of fraud was obtained, the evidence to scientific 
and cautious minds, for the supernormal, vanished. 

But more definite evidence of fraud was forthcoming. In 
Proceedings, Vol. IV., pp. 338-80, will be found recorded 
a series of sittings by Prof. Carvill Lewis, in one of 
which the whole process of trickery was seen through, Pro- 
fessor Lewis practically detecting the entire process by which 
Eglinton obtained his information and produced the writing 
on the slates. Prof. Carvill Lewis writes: 

" Mr. Eglinton places the book on the table with the open 
side toward him. His thumb is not visible, his whole hand 
being under the table. I purposely do not look directly at 
him, but busy myself with these notes. The moment I begin 
writing, the manifestations begin. He breathes heavily, 
sighs, moves, and rattles the slate, puts his right arm far 
below the table, withdraws his body slightly forward, and 
then looks downward intently in the direction of the slate. 
I suddenly look up, and immediately he also looks up with a 
very distressed expression of countenance. I look at my 
notes and again he looks down intently, and for some time, 
1 See Journal, Vol. II., pp. 409-30, 461-7, 489-520. 



Slate-writing Tests 87 

apparently, at what he is holding beneath the table. From 
the position of his arm, I judge that by this time he has 
lowered the slate to perhaps eight inches below the table, 
even his elbow being sunk out of sight. He now jerks the 
slate several times, breathing loudly. I look up again, when 
he says that he is tired, and brings up the book and slate, 
laying them on the table. . . ." And so on. The whole 
performance was so obviously conjuring to< a skilled observer 
that the wonder is that it could ever have been thought any- 
thing else. 

The spiritualists still insisted, however, in spite of the 
strong evidence to the contrary, that Eglinton's phenomena 
were genuine, and challenged the skeptical world to bring 
forward any other person, who, by the aid of trickery, could 
duplicate Eglinton's seances, under the same conditions as 
his were given. This was the strong position of the spiritu- 
alists at that time: they could always challenge the skeptical 
world to produce a conjurer who could duplicate the phe- 
nomena observed, and, so long as this individual was not 
forthcoming, there was at least a certain amount of rational- 
ity in their belief that the phenomena were genuine. The only 
way to prove that they were in the wrong was to produce a 
conjurer who, by unaided trickery, could exactly duplicate 
the phenomena witnessed in Eglinton's presence. 

Realizing that this was the only thing left for them to do, 
the S. P. R. endeavored to find some one who could, in some 
measure, duplicate the Eglinton seances by fraud. But me- 
diumistic secrets were closely guarded in those days and the 
Society had great difficulty in finding any one to undertake 
the task. They were extremely fortunate, however, in ob- 
taining the services of a young man, S. J. Davey by name, L 
who had come to the conclusion that the slate-writing per- 
formances of Eglinton's were all trickery, and had succeeded 
in duplicating most of his methods by sleight-of-hand means, 
and adding several new effects of his own. So far from Mr. 
Davey being an unsympathetic critic at the commencement 
of his investigations, he was, on the other hand, at first prac- 
tically convinced of the reality of the phenomena he observed, 



88 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

and a series of his sittings with Eglinton was recorded on 
pp. 431-9 of the Journal, Vol. II., which was written from 
the standpoint of a virtual believer. At the time of their 
publication, however, Mr. Davey had been convinced for some 
time that they were of no evidential value, and so stated 
(p. 431). I cite this merely to show that Mr. Davey was 
not by any means a prejudiced or partial investigator. 

As stated, Mr. Davey had succeeded in duplicating the 
slate-writing performances of Eglinton to such a close de- 
gree that he and Doctor Hodgson planned a daring line of 
attack upon the position of the " believers," which was cal- 
culated to silence all opposition. Davey was to give a series 
of test slate-writing seances free, members of the S. P. R. 
and others being invited to be present and witness the phe- 
nomena on the condition that they supplied the Society with 
a written record of the seance, while Doctor Hodgson was 
to be present for the purpose of taking notes. The majority 
of the sitters did not, of course, know that the phenomena 
were to be produced altogether by trickery. The object was 
twofold: to illustrate in a practical manner the possibilities 
of malobservation in seances of this character, and to show 
the close parallel between these seances and those of Eglin- 
ton, — the fraudulent and the supposedly genuine. 

The plan worked to perfection. Not only did the sitters 
fail to find out the trickery in the phenomena produced (and 
even refuse to believe that it was trickery when they were 
assured of the fact!) but they unconsciously afforded the 
world an opportunity of obtaining possession of the most 
valuable documents that have ever been forthcoming relative 
to this subject of malobservation, lapse of memory, and the 
psychology of fraud in general. The documents must be 
read for any one to realize the extent to which these mis- 
statements are made in all good faith. In fact, deliberate 
mis-statements are made of facts that actually took place, 
and it is frequently asserted that certain things happened 
which did not take place at all. All these mistakes were such 
only, and were not due to any conscious myth-making on the 
part of the sitter. They merely illustrate, in a marvellous 



Slate-writing Tests 89 

degree, the possibilities of fallacy, in observing phenomena of 
this character, and the extent to which undetected and even 
unsuspected fraud may be carried. I have discussed this 
aspect of the problem on pp. 48-63 ; for the present I wish 
merely to call attention to the other aspect of this series of 
sittings ; viz., that the phenomena occurring through Eglin- 
ton's mediumship were so nearly duplicated that not one of 
the sitters was enabled to distinguish the phenomena, and to 
tell which was fraudulent and which genuine. 

The net result of all this was to raise the strong presump- 
tion that the phenomena observed in Eglinton's presence 
were fraudulent also, and the Society was enabled to turn 
about and say, " If there is any difference in these seances, 
show it to us, for otherwise we are surely entitled to assume 
that the phenomena occurring in Eglinton's presence are 
fraudulent also." The last prop of the spiritualists had been 
effectually knocked away, so far as their defence of the slate- 
writing phenomena went, for where was the evidence of the 
genuine? Indeed there was no difference in the manifesta- 
tions at all ; but, with inconceivable inconsistency, the spirit- 
ualists placed the cart before the horse in their interpretation 
of the Davey-Hodgson seances, and insisted that they showed, 
not that Eglinton was a fraud, but that Davey was a medium 
who would not admit the fact!! Could anything be more 
irrational? The correspondence in the Society's Journal, 
about this time, waxed fast and furious ; the dispute was 
bitter, and culminated in a challenge to Doctor Hodgson 
to show, in detail, just how the phenomena were produced, 
if they were nothing but fraud. It must be understood that, 
in the early reports of these sittings, 1 the actual methods 
employed had not been stated, partly because it was not con- 
sidered necessary, and partly because Mr. Davey objected 
(very naturally) to having his methods made public in this 
manner. So long as Mr. Davey lived, therefore, this revela- 
tion was never made, but his death ended the chief objection 
to the expose of the methods employed, and Doctor Hodgson 
accordingly contributed to the Proceedings S. P. R. (Vol. 

1 Journal, Vol. III., pp. 8-44; Proceedings, Vol. IV., pp. 381-495, etc. 



90 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

VIII., pp. 253-310) a detailed exposition of the methods Mr. 
Davey employed. It is most interesting reading, and forms 
a chapter in the history of the psychology of deception 
hardly less valuable than the original. 

This complete expose was calculated to silence all reason- 
able opposition, and, though several noted spiritualists still 
continued to believe that both Eglinton and Davey were 
mediums, the doubt in the minds of the vast majority van- 
ished completely. 1 

I close this brief resume of the society's work and investi- 
gations in slate-writing by stating that the only new cases 
they have recorded have both been obvious frauds. The 

1 It is curious to note, in this connection, that so acute a critic and 
thinker as Doctor Maxwell should have entirely missed the point of the 
Davey-Hodgson series of sittings; i. e., their psychological import. On 
p. 399 of his Metapsychical Phenomena he accuses Doctor Hodgson of too 
readily jumping at conclusions, and superficiality in reasoning. Here 
is his charge: 

" I wonder how a man of Doctor Hodgson's intelligence could have 
based his judgment upon such superficial observations as those of the 
experimenters he cites. Here are men, without doubt honorable and well 
educated, who hold seances with the object of obtaining direct slate- 
writing through Mr. Davey. Instead of taking the elementary precaution 
of never abandoning their slates, they allow the medium to manipulate 
them, permit him to leave the s6ance-room for a moment, consent to 
allow other slates than their own to remain on the table at the same time 
as those which are used for the experiment, and lastly, when they exam- 
ine, only examine it on one side. (These were some of the cases of mal- 
observation observed.) This is not malobservation, it is absence of ob- 
servation. (See R. Hodgson: ' Mr. Davey's Imitations by Conjuring 
of Phenomena sometimes attributed to Spirit Agency; ' Proceedings, VI. 
[evidently a misprint for VIII.], 253.)" 

That is precisely the case! It was absence of observation. But the 
point was this: that this amount of absence of observation was possible, 
and in fact actually the case, without the sitters knowing or recognizing 
the fact, and writing their Reports in evident belief that they were correct 
in their main outline, and that they did not contain the errors and omis- 
sions afterwards pointed out. Where the superficiality comes in it is 
hard- to see. Doctor Hodgson's main object in conducting these experi- 
ments was to illustrate the possibilities of malobservation and lapse of 
memory in such slate-writing performances, and to show, further, the 
close parallel between the seances of Davey and those of Eglinton. In 
both of these objects he succeeded perfectly, and I cannot see how Doctor 
Maxwell's charges are to be sustained for a moment, when the object of 
the seances is made clear. Admitting that it was " absence of observa- 
tion " that was observed during these sittings, their object was to show that 
just such absence of observation was possible, all unknown to the sitter. In 
this Doctor Hodgson succeeded admirably. Still, Doctor Maxwell had a 
bone to pick with Doctor Hodgson over the Paladino case, and that may 
have somewhat warped his judgment in the Davey sittings! 



Slate-writing Tests 91 

method of the one medium (" Palma ") was actually exposed 
in detail, 1 while the methods of the famous " Bangs Sisters " 
were also detected and exposed. 2 

I now turn to a consideration of the actual methods em- 
ployed in producing slate-writing phenomena by fraudulent 
means. I have divided the methods into five sections, and 
shall first consider the various 



§ 1. Methods with a Single Slate (Prepared) 

One of the commonest methods employed, both by con- 
jurers and mediums, is what is known as the " flap method." 
In order to perform this experiment we need a specially pre- 
pared slate, which is made as follows. First, an ordinary 
slate is procured, having a rather wider rim of wood than is 
usually the case. Into this frame is fitted another piece of 
slate, fitting loosely into it, so that it will fall out easily, 
if the slate is turned upside down, i. e. y if the side contain- 
ing this flap is turned downwards (v. Fig. VII., p. 104). One 
side of this flap is left blank, while the other is covered with 
cloth of a dark color, and exactly matching the table-cloth. 
Now, when the flap is in place, it will be impossible to tell that 
there is any false flap, so long as it is held there firmly by 
the fingers, and, of course, no examination be allowed. And, 
when the flap is lying on the table, bottom side up, it will be 
practically invisible, if the light be not over-abundant and it 
is more or less quickly covered up with other slates, etc. The 
slate is prepared by writing on the slate itself (not the flap) 
and then covering this writing with the flap above mentioned. 
The slate will now present the appearance of being clean on 
both sides, and may be freely shown, cleaned with a sponge, 
dried, etc., to show that there is no preparation! At some 
convenient moment, the flap is dropped on to the table; the 

1 Journal, Vol. XL, pp. 8-11. 

2 Journal, Vol. X., pp. 5-16. By the Rev. Stanley L. Krebs; with an 
Introductory Note by R. Hodgson. 



92 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

slate, still being held written-side downward, is put into 
" position," a piece of slate-pencil slipped underneath, the 
sound of writing imitated (by one or other of the methods 
to be hereafter described), and, at the proper moment, the 
slate is turned over, and lo! the under side of the slate is 
covered with writing. The slate may now be examined to 
the heart's content, and nothing suspicious will be dis- 
covered. The flap has by that time been disposed of, and 
everything is secure. 

Another method of " working " this slate is to write on 
the flap itself, leaving this on the table, written-side down, 
until required. The slate itself is now, of course, unpre- 
pared, and may be examined, cleaned, etc., by the investi- 
gators. The slate is placed for a moment on the table (while 
the medium breaks off a piece of slate-pencil, let us say), 
and when it is again lifted up, the flap is lifted with it. All 
that has to be done, now, is to disclose the writing at the 
proper moment, which will not be until the regular " for- 
mula " for writing has been gone through. The slate, in this 
instance, cannot be examined by the investigators after the 
writing has been produced, and for that reason is, generally 
speaking, an inferior method to that first described. 

There is an ingenious variation of this flap method made 
as follows. Instead of the slate flap there is a flap made of 
slate-colored silk, fitting tightly over the slate, and kept in 
place by pellets of wax at each corner. To one corner of 
this flap is attached a cord. This cord passes up the sleeve, 
across the back, and down the other sleeve, to the left hand, 
constituting what is known to conjurers as the " single pull." 
Both sides of the slate can be freely shown ; the slate cleaned 
and dried, and placed on the table, face downward. The 
writing can now be produced at any moment required. This 
is a very effective method indeed, for, by simply holding the 
slate in the air, and in full view of every one, or by merely 
waving the slate about, it instantly becomes covered with 
writing! Moreover, the slate can be at once handed for ex- 
amination, and will be found perfectly devoid of any kind of 
trickery. The great drawback to this method is that the 



Slate-writing Tests 93 

slate cannot be examined in the first place, and for that 
reason would not do for serious investigators, trained to 
observe carefully, and who would demand " test condi- 
tions." But, apart from the fact that the vast bulk of 
persons who visit slate-writing mediums are not careful, 
scientific investigators, this test can frequently be intro- 
duced " impromptu," so to say, as follows. The medium 
first attempts two or three experiments with ^prepared 
slates that are examined; after which the medium suddenly 
picks up one of the slates, apparently at random, cleans 
and dries it quickly, as though in disgust, shows, in a care- 
less manner, that both surfaces are clean, holds the slate 
in his hand, imitates the sound of writing, and in due time 
(after adroitly pulling the flap up his sleeve by straight- 
ening the arms), produces the slate covered with writing! 
It is more than probable that, if the investigators had 
examined all the other slates before the writing was pro- 
duced, they will say in their reports that this one was exam- 
ined also, especially as this slate was examined directly after 
the writing took place, thus heightening the illusion of 
having examined the slate both before and after. 

Still another method is the following. A slate is shown 
on both sides and carefully cleaned before the investigators. 
Nevertheless it instantly becomes covered with writing, which 
fills the whole side of the slate. In this method the supposed 
" slate " is no slate at all, but merely a hollow frame, in the 
two short ends of which are inserted rollers or rods, which 
revolve freely. Round these rollers is passed an endless 
band of slate-colored silk, the ends of which are firmly glued 
together. Where the cloth is joined there is inserted a little 
stud or button; this catches in the frame of the slate when 
it reaches one or the other end of it, and prevents it from 
being pushed round too far. One side of the slate is now 
covered with writing and laid on the table, written-side down. 
When it is picked up, the upper side is first cleaned and dried, 
and, in turning over the slate, to clean the other side, the 
stud is rapidly pushed to the other end of the slate, which 
will, of course, bring the writing to the side of the slate 



94 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

just cleaned, and leave the side to be cleaned clear of any 
sign of writing. The message can now be produced when- 
ever desired. 

Before describing single trick-slates of other patterns, I 
shall insert, just here, several methods of using the flap- 
slate, that do, nevertheless, appear to the uninitiated to be 
entirely distinct and different " tests." This will serve as 
an example of how the same trick, in the hands of an expert 
operator, may assume various forms, apparently, and appear 
to be separate and distinct tricks. The following will serve 
as an example. 

The medium requests his sitter to write a question on a 
sheet of paper, fold it, and put it into his pocket. A slate 
is then shown blank, and thoroughly cleaned on both sides. 
The medium then takes the pellet of paper with the question 
on it, places it under the slate, the sound of writing is heard, 
and in a few minutes the slate is turned over, and the under 
side is found to contain a correct and relevant answer to the 
question written on the paper. This is a very favorite 
method among mediums, and, in the hands of a cool man, 
is sure to prove convincing. 

It will at once be seen that there are two distinct parts to 
this test — obtaining a knowledge of the contents of the 
folded paper, and the writing of the answer thereto on the 
slate. Owing to the fact that the medium cannot prepare 
his answer to the question before he knows what that is, it 
would appear impossible, at first sight, that he should be 
enabled to use the flap method in this test, as I have said he 
does. That is the explanation, nevertheless. 

The medium first obtains a knowledge of the contents of 
the sitter's folded-up paper. This he does by any one of the 
methods enumerated on pp. 276-90, and need not detain us 
now. Supposing, then, that our medium has gained this in- 
formation, the question is: how does he contrive to write an 
answer thereto without the sitter seeing him do so, since the 
slates are not concealed under the table in this test, but are 
kept openly in the light? Well, that is where the medium's 



Slate-writing Tests 95 

cleverness comes in ; he does contrive to write the answer on 
the slate, and this is how he does it. 

The medium takes a slate-pencil in his hand, saying, " I 
shall ask the spirits whether they will answer your question 
at this sitting or not, and shall ask them to write their an- 
swer to that question on this slate ; we shall then know how to 
proceed." So saying, the medium takes pencil in hand and 
writes on one side of the slate, apparently under spirit con- 
trol, and then on the other side. The message is read, and 
it says the conditions are very favorable, and, no doubt, there 
will be most satisfactory results. The medium then shows 
the slate with both sides covered with writing, the question 
asked on one side, and the answer thereto on the other. The 
slate is now thoroughly cleaned on both sides, and placed on 
the table. The paper containing the question is placed 
under the slate, together with a bit of slate-pencil. Immedi- 
ately the sound of writing is heard, and, on turning over the 
slate, it is found to be covered with writing, forming a reply 
to the question written on the sheet of paper. 

But the reader is still in ignorance of the way in which 
the reply to the sitter's question came to appear on the 
slate. It was in this manner. On one side of the flap, 
above mentioned, the medium writes, beforehand, a part of 
the message that was apparently written under spirit control, 
the answer of the spirits to the question as to whether the 
sitting would be a success or not. This false flap is lying 
on the table, cloth side up, and hence invisible. What the 
medium wrote on the -first side of the slate, then, was the 
correct answer to the sitter's question, and not the first part 
of his question to the spirits, as the sitter supposes. On 
turning over the slate to write the answer on the reverse side, 
the medium slips the false flap into position, and keeps it 
there by pressing it firmly into place with his fingers. Now 
when the question and answer are finished, and the medium 
shows the slate to his sitter, it is obvious that both sides con- 
tain nothing but the question and answer the medium wrote 
openly, and these are now cleaned off, leaving the slate ap- 
parently free from writing of every description. But it will 



96 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

be remembered that the answer to the sitter's question is 
under the false flap, and, in order to cause this writing to 
appear, all the medium has to do is to get rid of this false 
flap, which he can very readily do by letting it fall into his 
lap, e. g. The writing can now be produced whenever de- 
sired, and the slate can also be examined, since the flap is no 
longer in it. This is a very ingenious test, and will serve to 
illustrate the cleverness of mediums in devising such methods, 
and how helpless is the average person in the hands of such 
sharpers ! 

The following is a very convincing test. The sitter is shown 
a blank slate, both sides of which are thoroughly cleaned 
before him. He places his signature on one corner of the 
slate, which is then placed on the table, that side downward. 
The medium and the sitter then join hands over the slate, 
showing that the medium does not do the writing. Neverthe- 
less, the slate being turned over, that side is found to be cov- 
ered with writing. In this case, the medium certainly did not do 
the writing on the slate during the seance, and the flap method 
seems to be out of the question, since the writing appeared 
on the same side upon which the initials were written, and 
hence if this side was altogether taken away, the sitter's 
initials would disappear also, while the flap could not have 
been on the other side of the slate, since the writing appeared 
on the same side of the slate as the initials were inscribed 
upon. The flap method would thus seem to be out of the 
question and impossible. 

That was the method employed, nevertheless ! The ex- 
planation of the feat lies in the fact that one corner of the 
flap is missing. The message is prepared beforehand by 
the medium, and covered by the false flap, in the regular 
way. Care is taken, of course, not to write on that part of 
the slate which is exposed to view when the flap is in place. 
If the flap is nicely bevelled, it will be practically invisible 
at a little distance ; but the medium takes care not to let this 
corner out of his hands for an instant. When the sitter is 
requested to write his signature on the slate, the medium 
holds it for him, and indicates, with his finger, the corner in 



Slate-writing Tests 97 

which the sitter is to place his signature. In reality, he 
thereby hides the edge of the flap from the sitter, which 
would be visible at so short a distance. All the medium has 
to do now is to drop the flap into his lap, place the slate in 
the centre of the table, and in due time turn it over, when 
the writing is revealed. 

A very wonderful test may be furnished by means of the 
flap method as follows. A slip of paper and a pencil are 
handed to one of the investigators, with a request that he 
write on it a row of four figures. After he has done so, the 
paper is handed to a second person, who writes a row of four 
figures likewise, then to a third person, then to a fourth, 
then to a fifth. The paper is then folded up and given to a 
sixth person to place in his pocket, the medium never once 
having seen the paper, or its written contents. While this 
has been going on the medium has shown a slate, and thor- 
oughly cleaned both sides. The slate is now wrapped in 
newspaper and given to one of the investigators to hold. 
All this can be done, if desired, before the paper is handed 
round, thus precluding the idea that the slate is prepared 
beforehand! There are no confederates required in this 
experiment. However, no sooner has the gentleman holding 
the slip of paper added up the five rows of figures and men- 
tally noted their total, than the newspaper containing the 
slate is opened, and on the slate is found a row of figures 
which is the sum total of the five rows of figures written on 
the sheet of paper ! 

The explanation of this apparent marvel is simple enough. 
The medium has two pieces of paper of exactly the same 
appearance. One of these is left blank, but on the other he 
writes five rows of figures (any figures), adds them up and 
notes the total. He now writes this total on the slate and 
covers this side with a false flap, one side of which is, in this 
case, covered with newspaper. This side is inward, however, 
thus it outwardly presents the appearance of an ordinary 
slate. The second piece of paper is now handed to the first 
investigator, with the request that he write thereon a row 
of four figures. After he has done so, it is handed to the 



98 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

second, with like request; then the third, etc., until five per- 
sons have each written their row of figures. It does not in 
the least matter what their figures were, as, in handing this 
folded slip to the sixth person the medium has substituted 
for it the paper containing his own five rows of figures, the 
total of which he does know. The rest of the trick is obvious. 
At the proper moment the slate is produced and the number 
written thereon is found to tally with the total, as added up 
by the investigator. The flap is not noticed, for, in opening 
the package, the medium is careful to drop the flap slate 
side down, and, in this case, the reverse side is covered with 
newspaper. The reason the medium asks for as many as 
four or five rows of figures is that, if only one or two were 
written down, these could be added up very easily and 
quickly, and one of the investigators might have done so 
and noticed that the total was not that which was finally 
announced. This is obviated where a large number of 
figures are written down. The medium takes care to hurry 
this part of the test as much as possible. 

Having now detailed the principal methods of using the 
trick flap-slate, I shall proceed to enumerate the other chief 
methods of fraudulently producing writing upon a single 
slate that has been prepared. There are very many methods 
of producing writing in a simple manner, but I shall enu- 
merate only those most used and best known. 

One that is good is the following. Take a small 
camel's hair brush and dip it in onion juice. With it write 
on the slate whatever you desire, and when this is dry it is 
practically invisible, and may even be examined without fear 
of detection, if the light be not too brilliant. The medium 
cleans the slate himself, in this case, and is careful to dab, 
only lightly, the onion juice marks on the prepared side of 
the slate. Further, the handkerchief with which the slate is 
cleaned is not unprepared, but has been sprinkled over with 
powdered chalk. This chalk adheres to the onion juice marks, 
and the result is a written word not unlike a somewhat blurred 
chalk mark. A variation of this trick, sometimes performed, 
is this. The slate, having been shown free from writing, is 



Slate-writing Tests 99 

placed upon an easel. The medium now allows any one in 
the audience to choose from a plate containing different 
colored chalks the color he desires. The chalk is powdered, 
rammed into a pistol, and fired at the slate. A word appears 
written on the slate more or less legibly. 

There is no trick or preparation about the pistol or chalk. 
But the slate had been written on beforehand with glycerine, 
and the chalk sticks to this, when fired at the slate. It is a 
clumsy trick, at best, and more resembles a conjuring trick 
proper than a finished mediumistic performance! 

Here is a much more effective method, and one very 
largely used by mediums all over the country. A slate is 
shown and cleaned on both sides with a sponge and water. 
It can be thoroughly examined by the investigator, who 
takes the slate into his own hands, and who does not let it 
out of his hands once after it is cleaned. He may keep the 
slate in his possession the entire sitting, put the piece of 
pencil under the slate himself, and hold both the medium's 
hands while the writing is taking place. It would appear 
that trickery is out of the question ; and yet trickery of the 
most simple kind is practised, after all! The secret is this. 
The medium writes whatever he wishes to appear on the slate, 
before the sitting, in acid. The best preparation is made by 
dissolving a few small pieces of zinc in hydrochloric acid. A 
camel's hair brush is used in applying it to the slate. When 
this is dry it will appear exactly like slate-pencil writing. 
But when it is wet it becomes invisible. The method of pro- 
cedure now becomes plain. The medium takes the slate and 
thoroughly wets both sides before any one is allowed to exam- 
ine it. If a rag is not then used to dry it, it will take some 
time to dry, and may be freely examined in the interval. The 
medium may explain the fact that the slate is handed for 
examination wet by saying that it (the water) " absorbs ad- 
verse magnetic influences," or any other such nonsense that 
he may choose. A piece of slate-pencil is placed beneath the 
slate, and the medium keeps his sitter entertained by " clair- 
voyant visions," or whatever he pleases until the slate dries. 
The trick is then done. Though it may appear absurdly 



^ 



100 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

simple, when thus explained (as indeed it is), the trick is, 
nevertheless, one of the most effective slate tests I know, when 
well performed. 

A test very similar to that just described is the following. 
The medium scratches on the slate whatever he wishes with a 
sharp metal-pointed instrument. When dry, this will look 
very like slate-pencil writing. When the slate is wet, it will, 
however, be invisible. All that the medium has to do is to 
wait until the slate dries, as in the last instance. 

It may be well for me to insert here the principal methods 
that are employed to imitate the sound of writing on the 
slate, for, of course, the sound of writing has very seldom 
anything to do with the actual process of writing, that hav- 
ing been done, as a rule, long before the sound of writing 
took place at all. (In some few cases, however, the writing 
is not done until after the sound of the writing has ceased, 
and at a different time altogether.) It must be remembered 
that the medium is being more closely observed, in all proba- 
bility, at this time than at any other period throughout the 
experiment, and for that reason he rarely if ever attempts 
to perform anything at all at that particular period. He 
has either written the message beforehand, or he waits until 
the close scrutiny of the investigators is to some extent re- 
laxed, which it probably will be as soon as they think the 
writing already performed. This being the case, it is ob- 
vious that the medium can never be detected in writing on 
the slate, since the writing is done at another time; at the 
time when the sound of writing is in progress he is as free 
from deceit as any one in his circle ! This is a most important 
point to keep in mind. 

The simplest method is for the medium to scratch on the 
under surface of the slate he is holding with his finger-nail. 
This imitates the sound of writing almost exactly, and is the 
method all but invariably employed, many mediums knowing 
of none other. Another way is for the medium to scratch on 
a duplicate slate, in his lap or elsewhere, with another pencil. 
Still another method is for the unoccupied hand to rub two 



Slate-writing Tests 101 

slate-pencils together. This brings me to the very ingenious 
method proposed by Truesdell, in his Spiritualism, Bottom 
Facts, pp. 199-200. By the use of this piece of apparatus, 
the sound of writing may be produced, though both hands 
are visible and resting on the table. 

The piece of apparatus consists of a little wedge-shaped 
wooden clamp, somewhat resembling a large wooden " V," 
only the base is somewhat flat, instead of coming to a point. 
This clamp can be crowded on to the projecting flap of wood 
on the under side of the table, where it will remain until re- 
moved by force. This can be placed in position at any con- 
venient moment. To the lower end of this clamp is attached 
a slate-pencil. The medium then pushes another slate-pencil 
through two little loops, made from sewing silk, which are 
on his trousers, near his knee. All that the medium now has 
to do, in order to produce the sound of writing, is to rub the 
two pencils together, which can easily be done by a slight 
movement of the knee, and the illusion is perfect. It is prac- 
tically impossible to detect the fact that the sound of writing 
comes from beneath the table, owing to the fact that the ears 
are so readily deceived in such matters, which has been 
abundantly proven on many occasions. 1 It is quite impos- 
sible for the ear to locate the sound, under the conditions 
given, especially as the medium constantly calls the atten- 
tion of the sitters to the slate. I cannot stop to elaborate 
this point, which is well known and recognized by psychol- 
ogists. Detection is impossible, if the feat is neatly per- 
formed; and the medium has only to remove the clamp, at 
a convenient moment, to render everything secure. Truesdell 
states that Slade used this piece of apparatus frequently, a 
statement I do not at all doubt. 

There are doubtless other methods that can easily be de- 
vised, and are, in fact, in use. But the above will give the 
reader a general idea of the sort of thing he is to expect 
from slate-writing mediums, and will perhaps assist him in 
unmasking other methods that may be employed. 

1 See Fact and Fable in Psychology, p. 109; Sulley, Illusions; Parish, 
Hallucinations and Illusions, etc. 



102 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

§ 0. Methods with a Single Slate {Unprepared) 

In all the slate tests I have so far enumerated, the trick 
has been performed with a trick-slate, and was possible be- 
cause of its preparation. The spiritualist may, perhaps, have 
objected to all my explanations, so far, as being inadequate 
to cover many slate tests he has himself seen, in which the 
investigator has brought to the sitting his own marked slate, 
and never let this slate out of his hands for a single minute 
until writing appeared thereon. I would reply to this that 
I have not attempted to do so ; my obj ect so far has been to 
explain those methods that are employed by the average 
professional medium with slates of his own, or with slates 
that he has had an opportunity of handling, if only for a 
few moments before the sitting. In the present section I 
propose to deal with those tests which are given with the 
sitter's own marked and unprepared slate ; where the medium 
has had (apparently, at least) no opportunity of manipu- 
lating the slate before the writing is produced. In many 
cases, as we shall presently see, it is not necessary. 

It must be understood that all this refers only to single 
slates, and not to double slates that have been tied and sealed 
by the investigator prior to his visit to the medium. I shall 
explain, later on, the principal methods that are employed 
in fraudulently producing writing between locked and sealed 
slates ; and, in such cases, no matter what the appearances 
may be, the slates always do leave the investigator's hands, 
if only for a few seconds, before any writing is produced 
on the slates. Says Mr. Wm. R. Robinson, 1 " I wish to re- 
mark that, if any person tells you he took two slates of his 
own to a medium, thoroughly well tied and sealed, and that 
the slates never left his (the skeptic's) hands, and that there 
was writing obtained upon the interior surface of the slates 
under those conditions, he was sadly mistaken, and failed to 
keep track of everything that actually took place at the 
time of the sitting." And this statement is repeated by all 
those conjurers and mediums who actually produce the writ- 
1 Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena, p. 22. 



Slate-writing Tests 103 

ing and who know what actually takes place, and not only 
what appears to do so. I quite admit that, in many cases, 
the interval of time is far too small to allow of any manipu- 
lation of the slates by the medium ; and that he is watched far 
too closely to admit of any such open manipulation. But it 
is not always necessary for the medium to have this time and 
opportunity, as we shall presently see ! On pp. 136-8, 1 shall 
explain a method of obtaining writing between the sitter's 
own locked and thoroughly sealed slates (prepared by him 
before going to the medium's house) in which the slates do 
not leave the sitter's hands for more than two or three sec- 
onds, and where the medium's eyes never once left those of the 
sitter, and yet writing was obtained fraudulently between 
the locked slates even under these conditions ! And if this 
is the case, if writing can be obtained under conditions ap- 
parently so perfect, where the illusion is so complete (of 
never having allowed the slate out of your hands for a single 
instant), then I must insist upon the fact that human testi- 
mony (especially of persons absolutely unacquainted with 
conjuring devices and the tricks of mediums) is absolutely 
valueless, so far as slate-writing performances go. There 
are so many devices, so many methods of fraudulently pro- 
ducing the writing, that the testimony of the average person 
is of no value whatsoever in these cases. However keen an 
observer a man may be there are always a dozen different 
methods of fooling him, and of course any medium who 
knows his business would never think of producing the writ- 
ing twice in the same way, for the same sitter. He would 
always change his method at the second sitting for one en- 
tirely different, so that, in case his sitter had some idea of how 
the writing might have been produced in the first case, and 
goes with the intention of observing what would be suspicious 
movements by the medium (which would be necessary were 
his theory true, as it may be), he gets an entirely different 
test that baffles him completely, and he goes away more mys- 
tified than ever. It is by such means that the most ardent 
converts are made. 

But to return to slate-writing. 



104 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

The sitter, we will suppose, has brought his own marked 
slate, and is determined that it will not pass out of his direct 
observation until writing has been produced upon it, or the 
experiment has been given up as a failure. He consequently 
watches narrowly every action of the medium, and is ready 
to certify that none of any importance or significance escape 
him. The medium takes the slate, examines it, says it will 
do, and hands it back to the sitter, who is at liberty to again 
clean it, should he so desire. A small piece of slate-pencil is 
then broken off and placed upon the slate. The latter is now 
placed beneath the table, and held there by the medium and 
sitter jointly. Each holds his end of the slate with one hand 
only, the remaining hands being clasped above the table. In 
this manner neither could let go his end of the slate without 
the other being at once aware of the fact. Sometimes the 
slate is held directly under the table and toward the middle, 
but this is a very clumsy method, and is never seen nowadays. 
The usual way of holding the slate is for the medium and 
the sitter to press the slate against the under corner of the 
table, so that the frame of the slate corresponds with the 
angle of the table, with which it coincides. The slate is thus 
directly under the corner of the table (v. Fig. VIII.). This 
would be impossible with an ordinary table, because there is 
a flange under it, which would effectually prevent it, and for 
this reason we must use the hinged flap of a dining-room 
table, or have one specially built for the purpose. In either 
case no table-cloth is used, that being altogether dispensed 
with. Each sitter supports the slate by placing his four 
fingers under the slate, his thumb being above the table. 

Now what apparently happens is this. The slate being held 
as I have just described, the sound of writing is heard, and, 
upon the slate being withdrawn, the under or the upper sur- 
face of the slate is found to be covered with writing. The 
slate was undoubtedly blank when the slate was placed be- 
neath the table and the medium was held throughout as 
described. Nevertheless the writing occurred, and this is how 
it was done. 

The medium had secreted, under the finger-nail of his first 



Slate-writing Tests 105 

finger, a minute fragment of slate-pencil ; and, when the slate 
was in position, all he had to do was to extend this finger, and 
to write on the under surface of the slate whatever he desired. 
This becomes very easy after a little practice. The writing 
is scrawling, but that makes no difference, the sitters are 
glad to get it just the same. The message must be short, 
too, as the radius through which the medium's fingers must 
pass is limited. The long, even messages are not produced 
in this way, but in a different manner, to be described pres- 
ently. Great care must be exercised in order to prevent an 
undue movement of the tendons of the wrist, the disregarding 
of which precaution has led to the exposure of more than 
one medium. 1 

There is one other factor that must be taken into consid- 
eration. When producing writing in this manner, it must 
be remembered that the writing will be backwards, so that, 
when read, it will appear as if written from left to right in 
the regular manner. This will take some time to learn — 
more than the mere writing under the table, which can be 
acquired very easily. The best way to learn to do this 
neatly and quickly is to stand in front of a large mirror with 
your slate in your hand and watch your writing in the glass 
as you go. Far less practice is required to become an expert 
at this than would be imagined at first sight. 

So far, I have mentioned only one method of producing 
writing on the under side of the slate, that in which writing 

1 See Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV., p. 355. Prof. CarviU Lewis is de- 
scribing a seance with the famous Eglinton. He says: " I distinctly saw 
the movement of the central tendon in his wrist corresponding to that made 
by his middle finger in the act of writing. Each movement of the tendon 
was simultaneously accompanied by the sound of a scratch on the slate." 
Mr. Truesdell also says (Spiritualism, Bottom Facts, p. 146): " I could 
plainly see the movements of the cords in the doctor's (Doctor Slade's) 
wrists, indicating to me that he was doing the writing, but I was not sure 
of this fact, at the time, as he appeared to be very nervous, making many 
strange, and, apparently, unnecessary movements." This method is said 
to be the one most frequently employed by Doctor Slade. which I con- 
sider highly probable, from a study of various accounts of sittings with 
him. It will be observed that it is not absolutely necessary to hold the 
slate under the table in order to perform this test — it is quite possible to 
produce the writing while simply holding the slate in the air, being care- 
ful to note that the under surface of the slate is below the eye-level of the 
sitters. 



106 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

is produced by means of a piece of slate-pencil, secreted 
under the finger-nail. But there are other means of pro- 
ducing the writing, which I must now mention. One method 
is for the medium to have, concealed up his right sleeve, a 
thimble, to which is firmly attached a small piece of slate- 
pencil. Getting this into his right hand, the medium slips 
the thimble over his first finger, and produces the writing 
as before mentioned. All he has to do to dispose of the 
apparatus is to let it fly up his right sleeve. This piece of 
apparatus is ingenious, but always requires a certain amount 
of manoeuvring both to conceal the device and to get rid of 
it, when once used ; and for this reason some clever person 
hit upon the following idea, whereby the thimble is dispensed 
with. A tiny piece of very hard slate-pencil is placed at the 
tip of the right forefinger and over it is placed a piece of 
flesh-colored court-plaster, this being firmly attached to the 
finger. The plaster is then carefully blended to the finger 
with aniline dye, so as to make it indistinguishable. After 
the plaster has become hard and dry a small hole is made in 
the court-plaster, allowing the point of the slate-pencil to 
come through ; and this is what does the writing. Of course 
the finger cannot be examined, in this case, and where an 
examination is likely the former method had better be em- 
ployed. 

It only remains for me to explain how the writing ap- 
peared, apparently, on the upper surface of the slate, when 
it must always have been on the under side that the writing 
took place. The explanation is simply this: in withdraw- 
ing the slate at the end of the test (or on some former occa- 
sion, when the medium desired to see if " the spirits " had 
yet written anything), the medium adroitly turned over the 
slate, thus bringing the under surface to the top. When this 
is not done, then another test had been given, and the writing 
was on the upper surface of the slate before it was placed 
beneath the table. 

An exceedingly clever test is given by the author of The 
Revelations of a Spirit Medium (pp. 147-51), as follows: 

" Another phase of slate-writing that has puzzled and con- 



Slate-writing Tests 107 

verted many an investigator was the finger-writing or ' mate- 
rialization ' of a pencil on the finger of the medium. . . ." 

(After describing the method of obtaining a knowledge 
of the contents of paper pellets, as I have done on p. 279, he 
goes on:) 

" After he had read all the pellets, he would come into the 
room with the sitters and seat himself in the centre of the 
circle with half a dozen clean slates on the floor at his right 
and a pitcher of water on his left. Taking one of the slates 
on his lap and holding it in place with his left hand, he 
would offer his right hand for examination. 

" When all were satisfied that his right hand and fingers 
were perfectly clean and innocent of any apparatus, he would 
close all the fingers but the index, and, after swinging it 
about his head for a few seconds, he would bring the end of 
his finger down on the slate and proceed to write a message 
in answer to one of the pellets that had not been answered 
during the earlier part of the seance. When the message 
had been completed, he would give to some one of the sitters 
the small bit of pencil, about the size of a pin-head, that 
would be found clinging to the end of his finger. They were 
in great demand, for had not the lucky possessor seen it 
' materialized ' from the air? Another examination of the 
hand would be made, and another message written. This 
would be repeated until all the pellets had been answered, and, 
when there were those present who were mentioned in his note- 
books (v. p. 814), a few 'tests,' independent of the pellets, 
would be given. 

" This medium had been repeatedly tested by investigators, 
but his trick was never detected. His fingers had been 
washed with acids so frequently that the nails were almost 
eaten off. He converted a great many to a belief in spirit- 
ualism. 

" His trick was simple enough, the trouble being all with 
the investigators. They invariably searched in the wrong 
place for the bits of pencil. There was no use in washing the 
fingers of his right hand, for his pencils were not kept in 
that hand. 



108 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

" The pencils were made by pulverizing a slate-pencil and 
mixing the powder thus obtained with ordinary mucilage, 
forming a thick paste. This was cut into small squares, 
about the size of a rice grain. These squares were allowed 
to dry perfectly hard. He also kept a few of the pencils 
made by simply breaking small bits off a piece of slate. 
When he seated himself to give the writings he would deposit 
about a dozen of the mucilage pencils on his left knee. His 
pants were black, hence they were not visible; besides, the 
slate was nearly all the time over the knee. They could not 
fall off, for he held them a few seconds in his closed hand 
before sticking them on his knee. This warmed them and 
made them sticky, so that they stuck where he put them. 
Four or five of the pencils not made with mucilage he put 
into his mouth. 

" In picking up a slate with his right hand, he stoops over 
with his left hand on his knee. When he takes up his left 
hand one of the pencils is sticking to his thumb. He grasps 
the slate with his left hand, in such a way that the thumb is 
across the frame on the uppermost side. 

" He now offers his right hand for inspection, and, while 
everybody's attention is attracted to it, he scrapes the piece 
of pencil off his thumb on the slate. Both the pencil and the 
slate being black, the pencil is not seen in the dim light. 
All he needs do, now, is to place the index-finger of the right 
hand on the pencil and proceed to write. But suppose he 
drops the pencil and has no opportunity to get another from 
his knee? He will simply do a little snorting and contorting 
and drop one from his mouth and go on with the message. 
The reason he does not put the mucilage pencils in his mouth 
is because they would melt. The reason he does not use his 
mouth altogether is because he is too liable to detection. In 
order to add to the appearances of his act, he would usually 
drink a gallon of water during the hour and a half that his 
seance required. 

" This man travelled all over the country on the one de- 
ception and always had all the money he required. He is now 
dead, and his phase is being worked by others." 



Slate-writing Tests 109 

We now come to a test often employed. A card is given 
by the medium to the skeptic with the request that he (the 
skeptic) write a question on it. When this is done, the 
medium takes the card without looking at it, and holds it 
against his forehead. After a short interval, he hands the 
card back to the sitter, and on it, in writing, is found the 
answer to the question. This clever test is performed in the 
following manner. The medium has concealed about his per- 
son a small flesh-colored piece of watch-spring, bent to fit 
the end of his thumb. One end of this slips under the thumb- 
nail, and the other is provided with a minute needle-point, 
which catches in the flesh and holds the wire on securely. 
To the outside curve of this spring is fastened a very small 
piece of lead-pencil, and this does the writing. The modus 
operandi should now be clear. As soon as the medium re- 
ceives back the card, he glances at it, notices the question, 
and decides what he shall answer. The card is now held to 
the forehead, with the fingers toward the sitter, and the 
thumb inward, and with the thumb he writes on the card, 
after the manner of the slate-test explained on p. 105, in 
which a thimble is used. This, well worked, is highly effect- 
ive and delusory. 

Here is another clever test. The medium cleans a slate and 
immediately hands it to the sitter, who is at liberty to exam- 
ine it and place his private mark upon it. The slate is then 
placed upon the table, and medium and sitter join hands. 
In a short time the slate is turned over and a spirit message 
is found on the under side. The secret is this. A message 
is written on the slate before the seance began, by the me- 
dium. The slate is left on the table, written-side down. 
When the proper time arrives, the medium picks up a sponge, 
wet with alcohol, and dabs out the writing with this. When 
the slate is wet, the writing will now be invisible, but will 
appear again as plainly as ever as soon as the slate dries. 
All the medium has to do, therefore, is to keep his sitter 
engaged while the slate is drying. 

Mr. William E. Robinson (who was, by the way, one- 
time assistant to Professor Hermann), in his Spirit Slate 



110 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Writing and Kindred Phenomena, pp. 43-4, thus describes 
an extremely ingenious method, which he once saw per- 
formed : 

" A friend of mine told me of a medium he once went to 
see, who gave him a most remarkable test. He brought his 
own slate, and, as he afterward said, there could have been 
no trick about it ! The medium took the slate for a moment, 
and, with a pencil, covered the slate with writing on both 
sides, just to see, so he said, if it would be good enough for 
the test. He then cleaned off the slate on both sides, and 
gave it back to my friend, requesting him to hold it close 
against his breast, and then in a short time remove it, and 
when he did so, he was thunderstruck to find writing on it 
on the side nearest to him. This struck me as a most aston- 
ishing proof of spirit-writing. I had a meeting with the 
medium, who gave me the same test. It seemed strange to 
me that he should want my slate to write on and wash it off 
again, for the same reason as he gave my friend, and that 
was to see ' if it was good enough for the spirits to work 
with.' I received a message on the slate, after it was washed, 
and saw that there was none on there after it was cleaned and 
handed to me. I went home puzzled, and experimented to 
no avail. I had another sitting with the medium, but he did 
not give me the same test ; 1 so I returned home again and 
tried to fathom the mystery, and was eventually successful. 
The trick was mainly in the pencil. It was pointed at both 
ends. One end was a genuine slate-pencil, the other end was 
a silver nitrate or caustic pencil. In writing on the slate, he 
wrote the lines quite a little distance apart with the slate-pen- 
cil; in between these lines he wrote with the caustic pencil, 
the writing of which was invisible. The sponge the slate was 
cleaned with was dipped in salt-water. That part of the 
slate containing the writing done with the silver nitrate was 
just lightly tapped with the sponge, the rest of the slate 
was thoroughly cleaned. The salt water, when the slate be- 
comes dry, brings out the silver nitrate white, like a slate- 
pencil mark. I consider this trick as ingenious and clever 

1 See p. 103. 



Slate-writing Tests ill 

a one as it has been my good fortune to witness, and one 
that caused me much mental effort to solve." 

Should the reader now imagine that he is capable of un- 
masking any slate trick he might see, here is one for him to 
solve. The sitter brings his own marked slate, cleans it him- 
self, and lets it thoroughly dry before handing it to the me- 
dium. The latter now takes the slate with the tips of his 
fingers, in one hand, and immediately holds it out, away from 
his body, so that no contact is possible. Yet in a short time 
the slate is returned to the sitter and writing is found on 
the back of the slate. How did it get there? 

For this test a piece of apparatus is required of which 
the sitter has no knowledge. It consists of a long, narrow 
strip of wood on one side of which is glued a series of letters 
of cork or felt, and raised from the strip about an eighth 
of an inch. These letters are in reverse, and are well rubbed 
with chalk. To one end of this piece of apparatus is fast- 
ened a cord, this passing up the left sleeve and terminating 
in a loop, which is fastened to a button. The length of the 
string is just sufficient to allow the strip of wood to hang 
down behind a slate held in the same hand. The sponge is 
washed with water containing alum, this causing the chalk 
to stick to the slate more readily. When the slate was handed 
to the medium he held it downward in his left hand, and 
allowed the strip of wood to slip down behind it, when it was 
pressed firmly against the surface of the slate, and then 
pulled up into the sleeve again out of sight. The same idea 
has been utilized in the case of a blotter, the slate being dried 
on the pad. The blotter has the writing done on it with 
chalk, thus doing away with the strip of wood. 

Here is another test. A slate is cleaned and marked by 
the sitter, and, by him, deposited on the floor, under the 
seance-table. The medium and sitter then join hands. Soon, 
the sound of writing is heard, and, on picking up the slate, 
one side of it is found covered with writing. As the acute 
reader has doubtless guessed, the writing is done, in this case, 
by the medium's toes. He wears low-cut slippers, which he can 
easily slip on and off. The sock of his right foot is cut 



112 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

away, so as to leave the toes bare. To the big toe is fastened 
a piece of slate-pencil, and it is with this that the writing is 
done. This feat may sound most difficult, but it can be 
learned with comparative ease. The medium takes good care 
that his sitter does not look under the table, during the 
operation, by drawing him firmly up against the table, and 
holding him there until the writing is effected. If an effort 
is made to look under the table, the medium can easily detect 
it and instantly slip his foot back into his slipper, when 
nothing suspicious will be found. 

A method sometimes adopted in a dark seance is the fol- 
lowing. A slate being cleaned, and placed on the table, and 
both the medium's hands well held, the lights are extin- 
guished. Soon the sound of writing is heard, and, on again 
lighting the gas, a message is found written on the slate. 
In this case, the medium had a small piece of slate-pencil 
secreted in his mouth, and, as soon as the lights were extin- 
guished, the medium half -rose from his chair, bent over the 
table, and wrote on the slate with the pencil held between 
his teeth. But a still simpler way of performing this test 
would be for the medium to effect the release of his hand, 
after the manner described on p. 188, and do the writing 
with his disengaged hand. But dark seances are so obviously 
inconclusive in any test of this kind that it is hardly worth 
our while considering them further. 

Thus far, we have considered but one class or section of 
tests with a single, unprepared slate ; there remains for our 
review another whole series of tests, which are, probably, 
even more frequently employed by the professional medium 
than any I have so far enumerated — I refer to methods of 
substitution; to methods, that is to say, in which the sitter's 
slate is, at some convenient moment in the seance, changed 
for another, containing written messages, which slate is, 
perhaps, in turn, resubstituted for the original, at some later 
period. 

One of the simplest methods, which is also very effective, 
is the following. The medium has a number of slates in 
his arms — say four. He hands the investigator the top 



Slate-writing Tests 113 

one to clean. When he has done so, he hands it back to the 
medium, who hands him another to clean, also from the top 
of the pile, and in this manner he proceeds until he has 
cleaned all four slates. The medium then takes two of them, 
and places them together, and the sitter is at liberty to bind 
and seal these up as much as he desires. The two slates are 
placed on the table, in full view, and are not once removed 
or touched by the medium throughout the rest of the sitting. 
Nevertheless, writing appears on the inner surface of the 
slates, though the sitter may have taken them home to open 
them. This test is performed as follows : 

First of all, the medium wrote out the message he wished 
to appear on one of the slates, and placed this slate beneath 
several others on his table. The topmost ones of this pile 
may be used for any other tests desired, the medium being 
careful to pick up the four lowest for this test. Stand by 
the side of your sitter, and a trifle behind him. Hand him 
the top slate to clean, then the second, then the third, each 
time placing the slate he returns you at the bottom of the 
pile. While the third is being cleaned, however, you slip the 
fourth slate (now the top one) to the bottom again, and when 
he returns you the third slate hand him the top one (really 
the first one over again) to clean. This he does. Now all 
you have to do is to place the slate containing the writing 
and one other together, taking care that the written side is 
inward, and the slates may be bound up together and sealed 
to your sitter's heart's content. Instead of slipping the top 
one to the bottom, sometimes another dodge is used. The 
medium simply turns the three slates over by a twist of the 
hand. This brings the prepared slate to the bottom and the 
last slate cleaned to the top. This slate may be damp from 
the recent cleaning, however, and, if this is the case, the 
medium sponges over the slate himself — " to save time " — 
really to disguise the fact that it is still wet from the last 
cleaning. After it is wet, he thinks that the sitter might 
prefer to clean it himself, however, and so hands it to him 
with the remark : " Perhaps it would be more satisfactory 
for you to clean it yourself, after all ! " I have described 



114 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

this test as performed with two slates, and so really falling 
under " class four," but it can be performed just as easily 
with a single slate, and for that reason I have included it 
in this section. The same remark applies to the other tests 
I am about to enumerate. 

The reader may object that he has received writing on 
slates, every one of which was separately shown to be clean 
and free from preparation, and in which case the foregoing 
explanation would not hold good. That is very true, and I 
shall now proceed to explain the methods that are employed 
by the medium when this " turn over " trick is, for some 
reason or other, not possible. One such method is the fol- 
lowing : 

The medium takes a pile of slates, cleans and dries each 
slate separately, and shows it blank before placing it on the 
floor. When all are cleaned, he selects two, apparently at 
random, puts them face to face, has them tied and sealed, etc. ; 
nevertheless the writing takes place as usual. The explana- 
tion is this. The floor of the seance-room is covered with 
thick carpet. In this carpet, and close to the medium's chair, 
there is a slit, large enough to admit of a slate being slipped 
underneath and hence out of sight. It is on this slate that 
the message is written. The other slates, when cleaned, the 
medium piles on the floor, one of them being directly over 
the slit in the carpet. On lifting the slates from the floor to 
the table, the medium takes care to slip the fingers of his 
right hand through the slit and to withdraw the hidden slate 
with the others. All being deposited on the table, the me- 
dium selects this slate, and any other one, places these two 
together, binds them securely, and the trick is done. 

I shall now describe a most ingenious and much-used test 
which is even more convincing than any of the exchange 
methods so far enumerated. I shall first describe it as it 
would appear to the sitter. The medium hands the investi- 
gator two single slates devoid of trickery, which may be 
examined and marked. The sitter then thoroughly cleans 
both slates, after which he hands them to the medium, who 
places them together on the top of the table. Medium and 



Slate-writing Tests 115 

sitter then join hands. The sound of writing is soon heard, 
and, on taking the slates apart, one of them is found to be 
completely covered with writing. This is one of the most 
convincing tests I know. 

The explanation, which is absurdly simple, is this: 

To the under side of the medium's chair are attached four 
pieces of wood, forming two grooves, such as are used for 
sliding tills and small drawers. Into the under or bottom 
groove is slipped a prepared slate, on which is the message 
to be produced. In operating this system the sitter is given 
a seat on one side of a small square table, the medium seat- 
ing himself on the opposite side. When the medium receives 
back the cleaned slates, one in either hand, he places his 
hands beneath the table to draw his chair closer, apparently, 
(and in fact he actually does this), but really to exchange 
the slate he holds in his right hand for the slate under his 
chair. This he does by sliding the slate into the top groove, 
and withdrawing the slate in the under groove in the act of 
bringing the hand up to the table again. This may sound 
complicated, but, with a little practice, it can all be accom- 
plished with one natural sweep of the hand. The trick is 
now done, and it only remains for the medium to disclose the 
writing at the proper time. Female mediums can substitute 
a pocket in the dress for the two shelves described above. 

Spirit pictures are generally produced on slates by this 
method of substitution. In these cases, the method of pro- 
cedure is much the same, save that the slate is covered with 
faces, some of which the sitter may recognize as friends or 
relatives of his. The slate appears to be covered with a 
white powder, and the faces appear as black lines on this 
white surface, instead of white lines on the dark slate. If 
I had not already stated that this test was effected by means 
of an exchange of slates, I venture to think that my reader 
would be particularly puzzled to account for these mysteri- 
ous faces, as many as twenty or thirty of which sometimes 
appear on a single slate held beneath the table for a few 
seconds only. 

The author of The Revelations of a Spirit Medium (who 



116 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

can always be depended upon for the " business " side of a 
trick), thus describes the actual methods employed by me- 
diums in producing these faces: 

" Wash your slate clean, and, with a pencil, rub it all over 
until it is white; then, with the ends of the fingers rub 
lightly until the powder is evenly spread. Now cut from 
newspaper or magazine the faces you desire to copy. You 
must not cut out the face on the lines, but cut out a piece 
of the paper with the face on it, leaving a margin of about 
an inch all round. Wet the side of the paper opposite the 
picture with the tongue, being careful to wet it evenly. Lay 
the paper on the slate, wet side down. Hold it firmly in 
place, and, with a round-pointed pencil, trace over all the 
lines of the face, putting a good pressure on the pencil. 
Now take off the paper, and, when the slate dries, you will 
find an exact reproduction or copy of the face on your slate. 
The picture is made from the powder on the slate adhering 
to the wet paper wherever your pencil touches, and the sur- 
face of the slate shows where the powder is removed, making 
a black line through the white powder. Proceed as above 
until you have all the faces you want on the slate ; slip it in 
the slide on the bottom of your chair, and wait for a ' sucker.' 
The writer knows of one woman who is laying up something 
for a ' rainy day ' on this one deception. She is called the 
6 picture-medium.' 

" It would astonish you, reader, to know what a large num- 
ber of the faces are recognized as friends and relatives by 
the people who receive them. The writer knows of at least 
five people who have recognized Lydia Pinkham's newspaper 
cut as relatives, after it had been transferred to the medium's 
slate!" (pp. 145-7). 

The following is a very audacious and, at the same time, 
very effective test, that has been employed on several occa- 
sions. A slate is handed for examination and cleaned on 
both sides by the sitter. The slate is placed on a small table 
which the medium shows is free from trickery and prepara- 
tion by taking off the cloth. On the slate being turned over, 
however, it is found covered with writing, though the medium 



Slate-writing Tests 117 

has not been near it in the interval. The principal part of 
the trick is effected by the medium in the act of showing the 
sitter that there is no deception ! When the slate was laid 
on the table the medium remarked : " To convince you there 
is no trickery about the table, I will remove the cloth." Suit- 
ing the action to the word, he does so, but immediately re- 
places it, together with the slate. It is in this action, how- 
ever, that the trick is performed. On the table-top is resting 
another slate, containing the message ultimately received by 
the sitter. Over this slate is placed the cloth. When the 
medium picked up the cloth he also picked up with it the 
under slate, this fact being concealed by the other (examined) 
slate, which he has just placed upon it. In replacing the 
cloth, he simply reversed the sides, laying the first slate on 
the table, where it is now covered by the cloth, and the second 
one is thus brought into view. " It is astonishing," says 
Mr. Robinson, in commenting upon such tests as this one, 
" how such barefaced and simple devices will deceive the 
spectator. It is the boldness and air of conviction of his 
assertions that carry a medium's test successfully through." * 
Indeed this would appear to be so, when we read that Doctor 
Slade had the impudence to carry a slate to the door with 
him (to answer a knock from without, supposedly) and to 
exchange the slate he carried for another, at that opportu- 
nity! 2 

Finally, I must mention two methods of producing writing 
on a single unprepared slate, which, though cumbersome, 
have, nevertheless, been employed to good effect. A clean 
slate is placed in the middle of the table ; the light is lowered, 
and all the sitters place their hands on the slate. The sound 
of writing is heard, and soon the slate is turned over, and, on 
the under side, is found a written message. The secret is 
this. The table has a double top, about a foot deep, and 
within it is concealed a small boy. The top of the table is 
fitted with a trap-door, known in conjuring parlance as " a 
trap," and this the boy can open and do the writing on the 

1 Spirit Slate Writing, etc., p. 31. 

2 See TruesdelFs Spiritualism, Bottom Facts, p. 147. 



118 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

under surface of the slate. To conceal the depth of the 
table a table-cloth is used extending half-way to the floor 
all the way round. 

An improvement on this method is the following. The 
small boy is done away with, and the top of the table, 
though still double, is only about six inches deep. In this 
case, the medium effects the release of his right hand (as 
described on p. 188), places his hand under the table, opens 
the trap, and does the writing himself. Or the person hold- 
ing his right hand may be a confederate, and allow him to 
take his hand away and replace it at will. Needless to say, 
the light must be extinguished for this test. The sitters 
all place their hands on the slate to hold it down, and prevent 
it from being pushed upward by the writer's pencil, thus 
disclosing the trick. Needless to say the medium asserts it is 
to make more certain there is no trickery ! 

§ 3. Methods with a Double Slate (Prepared) 

We now pass on to a consideration of those slate tests 
that are given by the aid of the double or hinged slate. In 
many ways these tests with double slates are the most won- 
derful of all, for the reason that the writing is found between 
locked and sealed slates, which the investigator has often 
prepared at home, taking considerable time and no end of 
pains to make sure that the medium could not possibly open 
the slates and produce the writing therein without detection ; 
and the sitter is determined, moreover, that the slates shall 
not pass out from under his observation during the entire 
seance. Under such conditions, it would appear impossible 
for the medium, not only to open the slates without leaving 
the slightest signs of his having done so, but to write an 
answer inside the slates, and all this without the sitter having 
observed the least suspicious sign or movement on the part 
of the medium ! Indeed, the feat, at first telling, does sound 
a flat impossibility, and the average spiritist may, perhaps, 
be forgiven for asserting that such a thing is an impossibil- 
ity, or, at least, may demand specific proof that such a thing 



Slate-writing Tests 119 

can be accomplished. It shall be my endeavor to present such 
specific proof in the present volume, and I trust that my 
expose will at least have the effect of forcing the spiritist 
to acknowledge that such things are possible. 

I shall devote the present section, however, to an enumera- 
tion of the various methods of producing writing between 
the medium's own slates (which we may always safely assume 
to be prepared), leaving for our later consideration those 
tests that are performed with the sitter's double slates ; or 
those that have been secured and sealed by him at home, and 
that he knows are free from preparation of any kind. 

The first double slate I shall describe is one that appears 
to be two slates simply hinged together on one side, and 
fastened on the other side by a padlock that passes through 
holes in the frames of the slates. Apparently nothing could 
be fairer, since the sitter is at liberty to examine the slates 
as much as he pleases, provide his own padlock, and even his 
own hinges, should he so desire! Yet, after this thorough 
examination and cleaning, writing appears between the 
slates, that are held but a few moments beneath the table. 

The secret is mainly in the construction of the slates. The 
false flap is used again, but in a somewhat different manner. 
In this case, the flap is firmly held in position by a spring 
catch, and in order to release the flap, the end of the frame- 
work of this slate must be pulled or slid out about a quarter 
of an inch. The lower slate is constructed upon similar lines, 
as the flap must be clamped in place, in the lower slate, as 
soon as it has fallen into it. The framework of both slates 
therefore slips out, as I have described. In order to prevent 
this from slipping out too soon, however, and thus disclosing 
the secret of the trick, this framework is fastened by a catch, 
which is connected with a screw in one of the hinges. This 
screw stands a little higher than the rest, so as to be easily 
found. The pressing of this screw undoes the catch, allow- 
ing the framework of the slate to be removed. The false flap 
now falls down into the lower slate, where it is clamped se- 
curely, and all again made snug. In this test, both sides of 
the slate can be shown covered with writing, one slate and 



120 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the side of the flap nearest to it being prepared with the 
message beforehand. It will readily be seen that this method 
could be worked by the medium with great facility and quick- 
ness, and without the smallest possible chance of detection. 

Another pattern of double slate is the following. The 
wooden frame (small end) of one slate is made to slide out 
completely ; and to this loose end is attached the slate itself, 
sliding in and out of the other three sides as in a groove. 
This loose end is also kept in place very much after the 
method described in the last test. It is evident that the slates 
can be locked, sealed, etc., as much as desired. All that it 
is necessary for the medium to do is to release the catch, 
slide the slate out in its frame, write on the lower slate, as 
well as on the inside of the sliding slate (thus producing 
writing on both sides of the slate when opened), slide the 
slate back into place, when it will be caught and securely 
held by the spring catch, and the trick is done. If a very 
soft slate-pencil be used, there will be no sound of writing. 
This is essential in some tests when the writing is not pro- 
duced at the time supposed ; but, in this particular instance, 
it does not in the least matter, since " the spirits " are sup- 
posedly writing on the slates, in any case. While manipu- 
lating the slates (if his sitter wishes to hold one end of them 
under the table), the medium simply rests his end on his 
knees, and proceeds to use his disengaged hand as I have 
described. 

In the following test the flap is again used, but in a dif- 
ferent manner still. In this test, the slates are not real slate, 
but are made of cardboard, or a sort of silicate slate stuff. 
It is, consequently, more or less flexible. In this case, the 
flap is blank on both sides, and fits snugly into the frame of 
either slate when pressed home with the fingers. One side 
of this flap and the inner side of one slate are now covered 
with writing, and the flap pushed home, written side inward, 
of course. The slate now has the appearance of being per- 
fectly clean, and may be washed with a sponge, and even 
given a cursory examination. The slates are now placed to- 
gether, tied up, sealed, etc., but the writing appears as usual. 



Slate-writing Tests 121 

It only remains for me to explain the manner of the release 
of the flap. It is this. The medium pressed strongly down 
in the middle of the slate, thus forcing the flap out of its 
position and into the lower slate. It is then pressed home 
firmly by the medium into the lower slate, before this latter 
is handed for inspection. 

Mr. Robinson gives the following ingenious test in his 
Spirit Slate Writing, etc., pp. 36-7. " Another test, which 
was supposed to be convincing to skeptics, was one in which 
a double slate was used; it was hinged and provided with a 
lock in the wooden frame. The slates were examined, locked, 
and the key given to the skeptic. The skeptic was allowed 
to select, from a number of pieces of colored chalk, the color 
that he desired the message to be written in. Upon the 
slates being unlocked and opened, the writing is found in 
the color selected. 

" While the slates are being examined, the medium seizes 
a duplicate key which fits the lock. This key has a thimble 
attached to it which fits the performer's right thumb ; also 
attached lengthwise to the key are several small colored pen- 
cils or crayons of different lengths. When the slate has been 
examined, it is placed under the top of the table, and held 
in position by the thumb of the right hand, which is under- 
neath, and the fingers above the table. During this manipu- 
lation, the thimble is placed on the thumb, and the performer, 
with the key attached to it, opens the slate, using his knee 
to assist or support the slate. One part of the slate opens 
downward, and rests on the knee, which holds it in position, 
i. e. y at an incline, pressing it against the table-top. On this 
part of the slate the writing is now done with the colored 
crayon selected, which (colors) are usually red, blue, green, 
and white. When the color of the crayon is selected, the per- 
former turns the thimble round, bringing that color upward. 
Although not easy to execute, it is, nevertheless, a most sur- 
prising and effective test. 

" The above test was used by a medium very successfully 
for years in England and France, and was only found out 
recently." 



122 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Here is a clever test performed with a half-dozen slates. 
After they have all been examined and cleaned by the sitter, 
the medium places two of the slates together, and, after 
holding them in this manner for some time, they are sepa- 
rated, but no writing is found! The spirits have failed! 
But never mind, perhaps " the conditions are not good 
enough," or " we have not given the spirits time enough," 
as the medium suggests. The two slates are again placed 
together, accordingly, and medium and sitter again hold 
them over the table. Again they are separated, but still no 
writing is found! As if in despair, the medium picks up 
another slate, shows both sides, and places it against the one 
the sitter has in his hand. Now the two slates are separated 
(after a brief period), and one of them is found covered 
with writing. 

In this test, we again have recourse to the false flap so 
frequently mentioned. The slate containing the flap is 
among the others on the table. The first two slates given to 
the sitter are all right, and on these no writing occurs. On 
receiving these slates back, the medium substitutes the flap- 
slate for one of those handed him, and holds this slate be- 
neath the other, flap side down, the flap being still in place. 
On separating the slates, again no writing is found. The 
medium now takes up a third (unprepared) slate, and shows 
both sides of it to the sitter. Meanwhile he has, however, 
dropped the flap into his lap, leaving the right-hand slate 
free from trickery, and with the written side down. This 
right-hand slate he now places over the slate he has just 
picked up, thus bringing the written surface inside, and be- 
tween the two slates. I myself have utilized this test verj T 
frequently, and can vouch for its complete effectiveness. 

There is another style of locked slate made which I shall 
not stop to describe in detail. It is sold by all conjuring 
depots, and I need only state here that the hinges are 
" faked," the slate opening on this side, and being kept 
fastened, ordinarily, by a spring catch, as before described. 
It is really a variation of those mentioned on p. 119. 

Another form of the double slate is known as the " box- 



Slate-writing Tests 123 

slate." This is on the same principle as the last mentioned, 
except that, in this case, the frames of the slates project some 
distance, forming a kind of box. There are hinges on one 
side of this box, and the other side is fastened with a lock 
and key, like any other box. The trick consists in the fact 
that the staple, which is " doctored," is capable of being 
either removed or held firmly in place by a sliding bolt, as 
the case may require. The author of The Revelations of a 
Spirit Medkim states (p. 131) that he has had a slate of 
this character for years and that " it has passed scores of 
critical examinations at the hands of scientific and other in- 
vestigators, and came through them all with its secret undis- 
covered." So much for the value of examination of trick- 
slates ! 

A clever variation is sometimes effected as follows. A ques- 
tion is written on a sheet of paper, and this the sitter places 
in his pocket. A blank piece of paper, which may be exam- 
ined, is then placed between the slates, and these latter are 
now held together over the centre of the table. In a short 
time the slates are opened and an answer to the sitter's ques- 
tion is found written on the piece of paper between the slates. 
In this case the flap-slate is again used. The medium obtains 
a knowledge of the sitter's question after the manner de- 
scribed on p. 279, and, while the sitter is cleaning some 
slates, the medium writes his answer and slips the paper thus 
prepared between the surface of one slate and the false flap. 
This slate is now picked up, with one other the sitter has 
just cleaned, and a duplicate piece of paper is openly placed 
between the slates. The medium now adroitly turns over 
both slates, when the flap will fall into the lower slate, con- 
cealing the blank piece of paper, and bringing to light the 
one containing the answer to the sitter's question. The rest 
is obvious. 

When, however, the paper is marked, and substitution is 
impossible, another dodge is resorted to. The false flap is 
done away with, and the medium writes his answer on a piece 
of paper in sympathetic ink, which becomes visible through 
heat. The requisite heat is supplied as follows. The top of 



124 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the medium's table is hollow, and in it is placed a spirit 
(alcohol) lamp. The surface of the table consists in a 
sheet of iron, to which is fastened, at the corners, a tightly 
fitting cloth. When the lamp is lighted, naturally the metal 
becomes hot, and this is communicated to the slate. This 
method, well worked, is highly effective. 

Here is another method of obtaining writing between 
locked and sealed slates. The slate is, in this case, a trick- 
slate, and is made as follows. One of the slates is made to 
hinge or pivot in its frame ; i. e., the frame itself remains 
sealed, but the slate portion hinges out. This slate is placed 
over a trap in the medium's table, and, at the proper mo- 
ment, the slate is released by a spring catch. The slate then 
falls down into the interior of the table, and the medium, 
placing his hand within the table, is enabled to perform the 
writing with the greatest ease. All he has to do, now, is to 
close the trap and the table, and the trick is done. 

A very elaborate and ingenious method of obtaining writ- 
ing on a specially prepared slate, by means of electricity, I 
shall not now stop to consider. The explanation may be 
found in Mr. Hopkins's Twentieth Century Magic, pp. 135- 
143. 

As a final method of using the flap-slate, I shall give the 
following test. A book of poems is handed to one of the 
investigators with the request that he insert, anywhere be- 
tween its pages, a paper knife, in order to mark the place. 
This is done. A slate is then shown blank and cleaned. The 
person holding the book is now requested to open it and 
read the first verse on each page. Immediately this is done, 
the slates are opened, and the verses just read are found 
copied between the slates. " There ! " you will say, " Your 
silicate flap or acid writing will not work in this case, for 
the writing is done after the book is opened and read, and 
this is done only after the slates are fastened together." 

The writing was done through the flap method, just the 
same! How did the medium know where the book would be 
opened? He did not care where it was opened, as the book 



Slate-writing Tests 125 

was especially made for him, and every page was exactly 
alike, with the exception of the number ! 

It is possible, however, to do this trick with an ordinary 
book that is unprepared, and I shall now describe a trick 
I have frequently performed with an ordinary dictionary 
which is examined before the writing takes place. I shall 
first of all, however, describe this test as it appears to the 
investigator, and afterward its modus operandi, as, in this 
manner, the reader may form a clear idea of the tremendous 
difference that exists, in reality, between what actually takes 
place and what appears to happen. 

The performer comes forward, and hands for examination 
an ordinary dictionary. It is minutely inspected by the au- 
dience, and found free from trickery in every way. While 
this is being examined, the performer shows an ordinary 
slate, both sides of which he thoroughly cleans with a wet 
sponge, dries it, places it upon an easel, and covers it with 
a borrowed pocket-handkerchief. He calls attention to the 
fact that he does this before he commences his trick. Ten 
slips of paper are now handed to ten members of the audi- 
ence, with the request that they write on these slips any num- 
ber from one to five hundred. This being done, the slips 
are folded up, collected, and placed in a glass goblet, on the 
table, in full view of all. Ten more slips are now given out 
to ten other persons in the audience, with the request that 
any number between one and fifty be written on these slips. 
While these slips of paper are being folded and collected, 
the performer borrows a gentleman's hat, and, upon the slips 
being handed to him, he immediately drops the ten slips into 
the hat, shaking them well up also, and has one, any one, of 
audience is now allowed to select any one of the ten slips he 
pleases, and retain it, without opening the paper. The other 
nine slips are thrown away. The performer now takes the 
first lot of ten slips from the goblet, and drops them into 
the hat, shaking them well up also, and has one, any one, of 
these chosen. The remaining nine are again thrown away, 
and the hat returned to its owner. The performer now turns 
to the gentleman holding the first slip (on which was written 



126 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the number between one and five hundred), and asks him 
to open his slip and to read aloud the number upon it. This 
he does, and it proves to be (say) 387. The performer then 
turns to the gentleman holding the dictionary, and asks him 
to open it to page 387. He does so. The performer then 
asks the second gentleman to open his slip (the one contain- 
ing the number between one and fifty), and to tell the audi- 
ence what it is. He asserts that it is (say) 17. The per- 
former then turns to the gentleman holding the dictionary, 
and asks him to count down the page (page 387), and note 
the seventeenth word, but to note it mentally (not aloud), 
and immediately shut up the book. He counts down the 
column, notes the word, and closes the book. No sooner has 
he done so, than the performer fires off a revolver, rushes 
over to the slate, pulls aside the handkerchief, and discloses 
the word " octopus." On turning to the gentleman holding 
the dictionary, he admits that this is the seventeenth word 
on the 387th page! 

Nothing could be more mystifying than this trick, , well 
performed. There are no confederates in the audience; 
everything is genuine, so far as they are concerned ; even the 
slate is handed for a thorough examination as soon as the 
trick is finished. There is not a second's interval between 
the shutting of the book and the pulling aside of the hand- 
kerchief, which discloses the word " octopus " to the aston- 
ished audience. The account I have given is by no means 
exaggerated, and I do not doubt that many accounts would 
be far more at variance with the actual facts than is this 
one. I have given this lengthy account because I think that 
this kind of object-lesson in maldescription is highly useful, 
and the only way to make the public appreciate the dis- 
crepancies between the account as given, and what actually 
took place. 

Now for the explanation. For this experiment, the trick 
flap-slate is again used. The performer opens the diction- 
ary to any page and decides what word he will use. In this 
case, it was the word " octopus," this being the seventeenth 
word on the 387th page. He now writes the word " octo- 



Slate-writing Tests 127 

pus " on the slate, and covers it with the false flap. The 
performer has also prepared, before the performance, two 
duplicate sets of papers, one lot of ten all containing the 
figure 17 ; and a second lot of ten, on every one of which 
is written the figures 387. These papers are folded up, 
secured together by a rubber band, and each placed in a 
convenient pocket. The first lot of blank papers are now 
handed round, and, when the sitters have finished writing 
out their figures, they are folded, collected, and handed to 
the medium, who, in the act of transferring them to the 
glass, substitutes his duplicate pack of ten papers. The 
same performance is gone through in the case of the second 
bundle of ten ; in the act of transferring it from the right 
hand to the left, it is palmed in the right hand, and the 
previously concealed package in the left hand brought into 
view. This can be very easily performed by any expert in 
conjuring. In order to ensure that these packages shall 
resemble his own as closely as possible, the performer has, 
before the entertainment, folded them all into creases him- 
self ; and, when the time comes to refold the slips, nine 
persons out of every ten will fold them in the same creases 
again ! It is obvious that, no matter what pellet the audi- 
ence may choose, the result cannot but be the same, and 
result in the choice of the word previously written on the 
slate by the performer. This has now only to be uncovered, 
and the trick is done. 

§ If,. Methods with a Double Slate (Unprepared) 

We now come to those " tests " in which writing is ob- 
tained between the skeptic's own marked slates, or those that 
are free from trickery or preparation of any kind. To 
many persons these tests are the most convincing of all, and 
rightly so. There can be nothing more mysterious than this 
fact of obtaining writing between slates that are locked and 
sealed together, and which were, but a few moments before, 
devoid of scratch or mark. Naturally, the methods are not 
so numerous as in the previous cases, since the medium is 



128 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

limited to one possible method of trickery, opening the slates 
without detection, and doing the writing himself. At least 
it would appear so to the average person; and because he 
assumes this to be a fact, many of these tests appear to him 
to be utterly beyond the bounds of trickery, and hence 
genuine! That this reasoning is not in accord with actual 
fact I shall now attempt to show. 

The first method I shall describe is one that may be em- 
ployed when you have two slates brought to you, the four 
corners of which are screwed and otherwise fastened to- 
gether. We will suppose that the skeptic has fastened the 
two slates together at his home by screwing the corners to- 
gether by means of four screws, covering the heads of these 
screws with sealing-wax, to make sure they are not ex- 
tracted, or otherwise tampered with. Writing appears be- 
tween the slates thus prepared, nevertheless. 

In order to produce writing in the way I am now about 
to describe, the medium must have time, opportunity, and a 
certain amount of concealed apparatus, of which the sitter 
knows nothing. The time factor we may leave out of ac- 
count. It does not require very much time to produce the 
writing, and what time is necessary will always be granted 
by the sitter as one of the necessary " conditions." The 
opportunity factor is more serious. It may be provided 
for in two ways: either by turning the lights out and hav- 
ing a dark seance, or by allowing the medium to take the 
slates with him into another room. Of course this latter 
move may not be known to the sitter ; the medium may even 
give the slates to a confederate or an assistant to take in 
for him. If this is possible, the rest is easy. But supposing 
that the medium is obliged to work alone and has no oppor- 
tunity of leaving the room ; his best move in that case is 
to insist upon a dark seance. The lights being extinguished, 
the medium gets under the table altogether, taking the slates 
with him. He may either work in the dark, or may have a 
faint pocket-light which he produces and proceeds to work 
by. If this is the case, the table-cloth is very thick and ab- 



Slate-writing Tests 129 

sclutely opaque, so that no light may permeate through it. 
In either case, the method of procedure is the same. 

The medium produces the concealed apparatus, and gets 
to work. The apparatus consists of (1) a little wedge- 
shaped piece of very hard wood or metal, tapering to a 
fine edge; and (2) a piece of umbrella wire about a foot 
long. Through the small hole in one end of this wire has 
been pushed a piece of slate pencil, and this has been glued 
securely in place. With the wedge, the medium proceeds 
to force apart the wooden frames of the slates, applying it 
at a point half-way between the two ends of the long side, 
where the " give " is greatest. When the wedge is forced 
partly home, the frames of the slates, on this side, will be 
separated sufficiently to allow the insertion of the slate- 
pencil by means of the umbrella wire (v. Fig. IX., p. 104). 
With this, the medium proceeds to write anything he pleases 
on the slate ; when this is done, he has only to withdraw the 
wire and wedge, and secrete them about his person, and the 
trick is done. This is a method that is much used, and al- 
ways to good advantage. 

A description of another very ingenious method, worked 
on altogether other principles, is the following, which I 
quote from Wm. E. Robinson's Spirit Slate Writing, etc., 
pp. 22-3. 

" Suppose two slates, tied together, are brought to the 
medium. Both he and the stranger sit at a table. The 
slates are held under the table, the medium grasping one 
corner and the skeptic the opposite corner, each with one 
hand, and the disengaged hands clasped together above the 
table. After awhile the slates are laid on the table, the 
string untied, the slates taken apart, but no writing is found. 
The medium states it must have been because there was no 
slate-pencil between them. So a small piece of pencil is 
placed between the slates ; again they are tied with the cord 
by the medium, and he again passes them under the table, 
both persons holding the slates as before. Presently writing 
is heard, and, upon the skeptic bringing the slates from 
under the table, and untying the cord himself, he finds one 



130 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

of the slates covered with writing, although but shortly 
before they were devoid of even a scratch. 

" Here is the explanation. The medium does not pass the 
slates under the table the first time, but drops them in his 
lap, with the side on which the string is tied or knotted 
downward, and really passes a set of his own for the skeptic 
to hold, he (the medium) supporting his end by pressing 
against the table with his knee, which leaves his hand dis- 
engaged. There is a slate-pencil, called the soapstone pen- 
cil, which is softer than the ordinary. This is the one used 
by the medium. He now covers the face of the slate which 
is uppermost in his lap with writing, doing so very quietly 
and without any noise. Now, as he brings the slates above 
the table, he leaves his own in his lap and brings up the 
skeptic's with the writing side down. The slates are untied 
and taken apart and shown, devoid of writing upon the in- 
side, which, he claims, was caused by not having any slate- 
pencil inside (v. Fig. X., p. 104). The medium now places 
the pencil upon the slate which was originally the upper one 
(I.), and covers this with what was originally the bottom 
slate (II.) j which is covered with the writing inside on the 
back or bottom of (the) slate (v. Fig. XL). This manoeuvre 
brings the slate on top with the writing upon its inside. 
Nothing could be more simple and natural. The slates are 
again tied together, and, in doing so, the slates are turned 
over, bringing the slate containing the writing, still on the 
inside, at the bottom instead of the top, and the string tied 
or knotted above the top slate. Of course, when again sepa- 
rated, the writing is found on the inside of the lower slate. 
When the slates are passed under the table the second time, 
the spectator himself is allowed to do this, and the medium, 
with one of his finger-nails, while holding his end of the 
slate, produces a scratching noise on the slate closely re- 
sembling the tracing of a pencil. It is not really necessary 
to pass the slates under the table the second time, but they 
can be held above it if preferred." 

There is a very clever test which is sometimes given with 
two slates that are without frames. In this test, the sitter 



Slate-writing Tests 131 

writes his question on a piece of paper and this is placed 
between the two frameless slates, which are then bound 
firmly together. After a time the slates are taken apart, 
but no writing is found upon them. The medium looks 
surprised, examines the slates, and finally resolves to try 
once again. Both slates are accordingly shown blank, the 
paper again placed between them, and they are bound as 
before. In a short while the slates are again separated, and, 
while there is no writing on the slates themselves, there is 
a message on the paper on which the question was asked, in 
what appears to be lead-pencil. This test is performed as 
follows. When the slates are taken apart the first time, the 
medium manages to catch sight of the question on the sitter's 
paper and mentally frames his answer. To his right 
thumb is attached a small piece of a pencil made of lamp- 
black and mutton tallow. This is pressed together very 
hard. With this concealed pencil the medium does the writ- 
ing on the slate he is holding, somewhat after the manner 
described on p. 109. He holds the slate in both hands, the 
four fingers being toward the sitter, and his two thumbs 
toward himself. With his right thumb, he writes on the 
slate in reverse, i. e., mirror-writing, this writing being, of 
course, invisible against the black slate. It may, accord- 
ingly, be shown to the sitter in a casual manner, after the 
writing is on it. Now, when the paper is placed between the 
slates, and these are pressed firmly together, the writing in 
reverse is transferred to the paper, appearing on it as writ- 
ing done in the regular manner. It will now be seen why the 
slates are frameless. Of course, they may be tied, sealed, 
etc., to your sitter's heart's content, after the second placing 
together of the slates ; and the medium who knows his busi- 
ness will insist upon this being done. 

The following " test " I would especially recommend to 
the reader as a most interesting psychological study, and as 
illustrating the extreme audacity of the professional me- 
dium. Taken all in all, it appeals to me as one of the 
cleverest pieces of trickery — one of the most cunningly 
devised deceptions — I have ever come across. 



132 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

The effect of this test is as follows. The sitter is re- 
quested to write a question on a piece of paper, in pen or 
pencil, and to fold this paper up small, so that the medium 
cannot possibly catch a glimpse at its contents. Meanwhile, 
the medium has been cleaning two slates, which the sitter is 
at liberty to examine both before and after the cleaning, if 
he so chooses. The medium now places the paper pellet, 
which he has just taken from his sitter's hand, against his 
forehead, and holds it there for some time. He apparently 
can get no " impressions," however, and asks the sitter to 
place the paper pellet against his own forehead and keep it 
there for some time, being sure to keep his mind fixed on 
the question he has written. The medium, meanwhile, sits 
with closed eyes. He presently picks up one of the slates 
on the table, and writes, in a slow, hesitating manner, upon 
it. He states that the " conditions " are not good, and that 
he is not at all sure that he has written the correct answer 
to the sitter's question. Then he reads aloud what he has 
written. It is : " Dear Henry : The papers will never be 
found. Andrew Smith." The sitter states that this message 
has no particular meaning for him, not being in any way 
an answer to the question he wrote on the paper pellet. The 
medium looks worried ; says that " the conditions are not 
good," and proceeds to rub out what he has written on the 
slate. At the same time, he asks his sitter to open his paper 
and to make sure that he has written his question distinctly 
and memorized it correctly. The sitter does so and asserts 
that he has done this. The medium now suggests that " the 
spirits might prefer to do their own writing," and so puts 
the two slates together, and he and the sitter hold them 
above the table, in full light. They are separated, but still 
no writing appears on the slates ! The medium now sug- 
gests that perhaps it might help if the paper pellet were 
placed between the slates, and this is accordingly done. The 
slates are securely tied and sealed, and again held in full 
light by medium and sitter, without the medium touching 
them in the interval for a moment. Finally, the slates are 
separated and on the inner surface is found the message: 



Slate-writing Tests 133 

" Dear George : Your business is sure to succeed beyond 
your expectations. William Stern." This the sitter ac- 
knowledges to be a correct and relevant answer to his ques- 
tion. 

Now for the explanation. The medium has, palmed in his 
right hand, a duplicate paper pellet. When his sitter hands 
him his pellet he deftly substitutes his own for that of the 
sitter, and allows his right hand containing the sitter's pellet 
to drop into his lap, while he holds to his forehead his own 
duplicate, blank pellet. Meanwhile, he opens and reads the 
sitter's pellet, holding it with his disengaged right hand — 
an easy task. He now apparently returns the sitter's 
pellet, really resubstituting the real pellet for the " dummy," 
so that the sitter really receives back his own pellet, contain- 
ing his question. If any reader thinks that this substitution, 
without detection, is impossible, I can only assure them that 
it is not, and not even difficult. 1 The medium openly picks 
up one of the slates, now, and writes on it the correct answer 
to his sitter's question. This is, it will be remembered, 
" Dear George : Your business is sure to succeed beyond 
your expectations. William Stern." He tells the sitter, how- 
ever, that he is not at all sure that he has written the correct 
answer to his question, and pretends to read what he has 
written on the slate, but, in reality, he makes up a reply, 
and so reads aloud, " Dear Henry : The papers will never 
be found. Andrew Smith." Naturally, the sitter asserts 
that this is altogether wrong. The medium looks worried 
and asks his sitter to open the pellet, and see if the writing 
is plain, etc. The sitter does so, but, while he is occupied 
in that act, the medium quietly turns over the slate in his 
hand, thus bringing to the top the clean surface, and turn- 

1 1 know of no one whose opinion I would value more, or who strikes 
me as more competent to detect ordinary fraud of this sort, than Professor 
Hyslop. Yet, in describing a seance of this kind, and, probably, feeling 
quite sure that fraud was being practised, he writes: "... the important 
point to remark is the fact that I neither saw nor felt him exchange the 
pellets, and yet I was watching him with all the care I knew how to exer- 
cise. . . . " (Borderland of Psychical Research, pp. 231-2). If this is the 
ease with Professor Hyslop, whose powers of observation are exceptionally 
keen, of how much value is the testimony of the average individual, ab- 
solutely untrained in scientific observation? 



134 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

ing the written-upon side to the table. He now pretends 
to clean off the message he has just written, in reality clean- 
ing only the blank side of the slate. Another blank slate is 
now placed over this one, and, after awhile, separated, but 
of course no writing is found. The medium then suggests 
that the paper pellet be placed between the slates, and ad- 
vances toward his sitter the completely blank slate in his 
left hand. The sitter places upon this slate the pellet of 
paper, and the medium now covers this slate with the other, 
on the lower surface of which, it must be remembered, is the 
correct answer to the sitter's question. The slates are now 
firmly bound together, sealed, etc., and in due time they are 
separated and the answer is found on the inside of one of 
the slates. Simple as this test is, when once explained, I 
can assure my readers that the illusion is perfect, and the 
effect staggering and convincing. 

When public performances, or " test seances," are given, 
the medium has handed to him a number of locked and sealed 
slates. On these he is to obtain writing. He takes each pair 
of slates in turn, holds them between his hands, and finally 
hands them back to their various owners. On some of these 
there is no reply, but on some are written correct and per- 
tinent answers to the questions asked. Needless to say the 
medium would not have obtained answers in any case if his 
confederates had not been in the audience with slates pre- 
viously prepared by himself. But public performances of 
this kind are always the most obvious frauds. 
\ I shall now describe a slate-test in which writing is ob- 
tained between examined and marked slates that are so 
sealed and fastened together that it would be an utter im- 
possibility for the medium to open the slates in the slightest 
degree. The slates are free from writing or preparation 
of any kind when they are placed together, and they are 
fastened by the sitter himself, after a small piece of chalk 
has been placed between them. Let us suppose the sitter 
begins by screwing the frames of the slates together in sev- 
eral places, not only at the corners. This, therefore, pre- 
vents the medium proceeding as explained on p. 129. But, 



Slate-writing Tests 135 

further, the skeptic proceeds to cover the heads of these 
screws with sealing-wax; after which he proceeds to fasten 
or gum the frames of the slates together all the way round 
with strips of sticking-plaster, securing these in place and 
finally sealing the frames together in several different places, 
placing his signet on the seals. If he choose, he may glue the 
wooden frames of the slates together, also. The operation 
has probably occupied many minutes. Medium and sitter 
now hold the slates beneath the table between them, for the 
space of, perhaps, a minute. At the end of that time the 
medium requests his sitter to take away the slates and open 
them, or to open them there, as the case may be. The sitter 
does so and is amazed to find a message on the inner surface 
of one of the slates. It is very badly written, it is true, 
but the sitter is, rightly enough, glad to get writing of any 
kind under such conditions. 

At first sight, such a test would appear absolutely beyond 
the bounds of any sort of trickery. I have stated that the 
slates were free from writing, as well as from preparation 
of any kind, when they were put together by the sitter, and 
this is strictly the truth. The writing was produced after 
the slates were placed together and sealed up as I have de- 
scribed. But that is an impossibility? Not so, evidently, 
since the writing is really there ! Then it must be genuine ! 
Thus reasons the skeptic, and, indeed, we can hardly blame 
him for his belief. 
% The trick, in this case, is worked upon entirely different 
lines from any test so far described. I have stated that a 
piece of chalk (not slate-pencil) was placed between the 
slates, and it is chiefly in the chalk that the trick lies. It is 
not an ordinary piece of chalk, but is made of a compound 
of powdered chalk, water, glue, and iron filings. These were 
all blended together and allowed to become dry and hard. 
This is the piece of " chalk " placed between the sitters' 
slates. 

Now, when the slates are placed under the table, the 
medium extracts, from his sleeve or elsewhere, a magnet, 
and with this he traces a series of letters on the under side 



136 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

of the bottom slate, in " mirror-writing." The iron filings 
in the mixture will follow the magnet, and the chalk will 
write on the slate in the regular manner. The medium 
locates the piece of chalk in the first instance, by tipping 
the slate at an angle, so that the chalk will run into one 
corner. He first of all places the magnet in that corner and 
drags the bit of chalk to the middle of the slate before pro- 
ceeding to write out the message. The ingenuity of this test 
will serve, I hope, to show the reader the extreme cunning of 
the professional medium, and how useless it is for the 
average individual, quite unacquainted with even the ordi- 
nary methods of trickery or the elements of conjuring, to 
hope to cope with the medium on his own ground, and even 
to beat at his own game a man who, naturally crafty, has 
made this particular branch of deception his life-study. 

I shall now treat the reader to the method of obtaining 
messages between two locked and sealed slates to which I 
referred on p. 103. 

I have quoted the passage just as it is given by the 
author, for to change it would be to destroy its setting, and 
hence its naivete and psychological significance. Accord- 
ingly I quote the passage verbatim: 

" No man ever received ' independent slate-writing ' be- 
tween slates fastened together that he did not allow out of 
his hands a few seconds. Scores of persons will tell you that 
they have received writing under those conditions through 
the mediumship of the writer; but the writer will tell you 
how he fooled them, and how you can do so, if you see fit. 

" In the first place you will rent a house with a cellar in 
connection. Cut a trap-door one foot square through the 
floor between the sills on which the floor is laid. Procure a 
fur floor-mat with long hair. Cut a square out of the mat 
and tack it to the floor of the trap-door. Tack the mat fast 
to the floor, for some one may visit you who will want to raise 
it up. Explain the presence of the fur by saying it is an 
absorbent of ' magnetic ' forces, through which you produce 
the writing. Over the rug place a heavy pine table, about 
four feet square; and over the table a heavy cover that 



Slate-writing Tests 137 

reaches the floor on all sides. Put your assistant in the 
cellar with a coal-oil stove, a teakettle of hot water, different 
colored letter-wax and lead-pencils, a screw-driver, a pair 
of nippers, a pair of scissors, and an assortment of wire 
brads. You are now ready for business. 

" When your ' sitter ' comes in, you will notice his slates 
(if he brings a pair), and see if they are secured in any way 
that your man in the cellar cannot duplicate. If they are, 
you can touch his slates with your finger and say to him 
that you cannot use his slates on account of the ' magnetism ' 
with which they are saturated ! He will know nothing about 
' magnetic conditions ' and will ask you what he is to do 
about it. 

" You will furnish him a pair of new slates with water 
and cloths to clean them. You will also furnish him paper 
to write his questions on, and the screws, wax, paper, and 
mucilage to secure them with. He will write his question 
and fasten the slates securely together. 1 

" You now conduct him to your c seance-room,' and invite 
inspection of your table and surroundings. After the ex- 
amination has been made, you will seat the sitter on one side 
of the table, with his side and arm next it. If he desires to 
keep hold of the slates, a signal agreed upon between your- 
self and your assistant will cause the ' spirit ' in the cellar 
to open the trap-door, which opens downward, and to push 
through the floor and into a position where the sitter can 
grasp one end of it, a pair of dummy slates. This dummy 
your assistant will continue to hold until the sitter has taken 
hold of it after the following performance. 

" Your assistant lets you know everything is ready by 
touching your foot. You now reach and take the sitter's 
slates and put them below the table, and under it, telling the 
sitter to put his hand under, from his side, and hold them 
with you. He puts his hand under, and gets hold of the 
dummy slates held by your assistant. 

" Your assistant holds on until you have stood the slates 

1 It must be remembered that, in the vast majority of cases, the sitter's 
own slates would be used — not those supplied by the medium. — H. C. 



138 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

on end, leaning against the table-leg, and have got hold of 
the dummy. He then takes the sitter's slates below, and 
closes the trap. He proceeds to open them, read the ques- 
tions, answer them, and refasten the slates. 

" You will be entertaining your sitter by twitching and 
jerking and making clairvoyant and clairaudient guesses 
for him. 

" When your assistant touches your foot, you will know 
that he is ready to make the exchange again, by which the 
sitter will get hold of the slates he fastened. When you get 
the signal, you give a snort and jump that jerks the end of 
the slates from the sitter's hand. He is now given the end of 
the slates held by your assistant, and you will allow the 
assistant to take the dummy. After sitting a moment or 
two longer, you will tell the sitter to take out his slates and 
examine them if he chooses. Many times they do not open 
the slates until they reach their homes. This, reader, is the 
man who will declare that he furnished the slates and did 
not allow them out of his hands a minute." 1 

In the case of the test just given, it is not absolutely neces- 
sary that you should have a cellar in connection. Some 
mediums, in fact, perform this test in another manner, and 
without its use. In these cases, the medium makes use of a 
table with a drawer. The slates are placed in the drawer, 
which can now be sealed, etc., by the skeptic. Writing ap- 
pears on the slates, nevertheless. The back of the drawer is 
missing, and this opening corresponds to a trap-door cut in 
the wall of the room. An assistant is in the next room, who 
reaches his hand through the trap and into the drawer, ex- 
tracting therefrom the slates, and writing between them, as 
in the last instance. A bureau may also be used in place of 
the table, if desired. 

| 5. Miscellaneous Tests 

The principal methods of obtaining writing upon slates 
by fraudulent means have now been given, and it but remains 

1 Revelations of a Spirit Medium, pp. 153-6. 



Slate-writing Tests 139 

for me to enumerate, in the present section, some tests of a 
miscellaneous character, in which writing is obtained on 
paper or other surfaces in an apparently supernormal man- 
ner. I do not mean by this that I have, in the preceding 
four sections, mentioned all the methods that could be, and 
indeed are, employed by mediums in obtaining writing by 
fraudulent means, since that would be almost an impossi- 
bility. Indeed, it is highly probable that this book will no 
sooner have gone to press than I shall think of other methods 
that I might have included in this volume, but the list is 
obviously unending. This applies also to rope-tying and 
other tricks of the kind most employed by mediums; no 
sooner is one method exposed than the medium sets about de- 
vising some new swindle by which he may delude his victim. 
For this reason no book on this subject can ever hope to be 
exhaustive ; the most that can be done is to enumerate as 
many methods as possible, and to hope that the methods 
that are enumerated will give to the reader enough idea of 
the kind of trickery that is practised so that it will be a 
hard thing to deceive him with any similar devices in the 
future. 

The first test of the kind I shall mention is one in which 
writing is obtained on a sheet of paper that has been placed 
in a glass bottle or tube which is afterward hermetically 
sealed. This reminds us of some of the old historical 
"tests" that were employed, this particular test being spoken 
of, by the way, as one of the most convincing possible ! The 
paper is devoid of writing when it is placed in the tube or 
bottle, and there is no trick about the latter, either, no slit 
or opening by which the paper inside could be extracted and 
another substituted. Writing appears on the paper never- 
theless, despite the fact that the tube has been hermetically 
sealed, and has obviously not been opened or tampered with 
by the medium in the interval. 

In this case, a piece of blank paper is placed in a thin 
glass vial, which is then carefully sealed by the investigator. 
The medium takes the vial, and places it on his table, in 
full view of all. Soon, however, it is taken down and handed 



140 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

to the sitter, who, on opening the bottle, finds the paper 
covered with writing. 

The writing was obtained in the simplest manner possible, 
viz., by the use of sympathetic ink. The paper is written 
upon, before the seance opens, with a clean pen, dipped in a 
highly diluted solution of sulphuric acid. The table is the 
trick-table, described on p. 124, the alcohol-lamp being 
alight under it. Under the influence of the heat, the writing 
comes out black, like ink writing, and this, no matter how 
careful has been the sealing! In some cases, it is not even 
necessary to place the vial on the table, the heat of the hands 
being all that is necessary in order to bring out the writing 
clearly. 

The same effect may be produced by washing out the 
inside of the bottle with ammonia (the bottle must after- 
ward be kept well corked), and b}^ writing on the paper with 
a weak solution of copper sulphate. In this case the writing 
will appear blue. Mr. Robinson has pointed out, in his 
Spirit Slate Writing (p. 11), that if blank cards are written 
upon with a solution of iron sulphate, and these are inserted 
into envelopes that have previously been moistened with a 
solution of nut-galls, the hitherto invisible writing on the 
cards will be developed and brought into visibility. Another 
method would be a simple exchange of vials, where this is 
possible. 

A favorite test often employed by Charles H. Foster and 
other mediums is that of obtaining writing on the arm, which 
has just been shown bare and free from writing, scratch or 
mark of any character. There are many ways of producing 
writing on the arm in this manner, the principal of which I 
shall mention. 

One method is to wet the forearm with salt water, and 
allow it to become dry. This had better be done just before 
the seance. Now, at some convenient moment, either when 
your arm is below the table, or when you are standing behind 
your sitter in the room, take a sharpened stick from your 
pocket and write the name required on your arm, pressing 
heavily. Wait until the red lines have disappeared, when you 



Slate-writing Tests 141 

can draw up your sleeve and show your arm apparently 
clean, and free from mark of any character. It may even 
be examined. When you desire the writing to appear, rub 
briskly over the spot on the arm that is prepared, and the 
letters will come out in a dull, blood red. It is best to have 
the fingers of the hand that does the rubbing slightly 
moistened. 

Another way is to write the name on your arm in glycer- 
ine. In this case, the sitter writes his question on a piece of 
paper, which the medium then burns and rubs the ashes on 
his arm. The ashes stick to the glycerine marks, causing 
the writing to appear in black, smudgy handwriting, and 
the spirits are supposed to have written ! 

Still another method is to have a long strip of wood, to 
which are fastened letters cut from felt or cork, m reverse. 
This strip of wood is pushed up the sleeve, and the arm 
presses upon it heavily, the medium leaning on the table for 
the purpose. The piece of wood is now secretly abstracted, 
and hidden, and the medium has only to rub his arm briskly 
with slightly moistened fingers in order to produce thereon 
writing in a very good hand. 1 

Several mediums have created quite a sensation by intro- 
ducing a new test, in which the up-to-date spirit writes, not 
in long-hand, but on a typewriter ! The typewriter is shown, 
apparently free from preparation, and a message is written 
on it by the medium to show that it works like any other 
typewriter. A piece of paper is placed between the rollers, 
and the medium retires some distance from the machine. 
The keys are now seen and heard to move of their own 
accord and write on the paper any message the sitters pro- 
pose. I myself have witnessed this test, and the effect is cer- 
tainly most uncanny. 

The whole secret consists in the fact that black silk cords 

1 It is conceivable, of course, that such a thing might take place in a 
genuine manner — writing appearing on the arm in some inexplicable 
way — by supernormal action. Such cases might be allied to the stigmata 
observed in the cases of certain saints; the bleeding patches obtained by 
hypnotic suggestion, etc.; but, until we have evidence for their reality, 
such speculations are useless. 



142 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

are attached to the under side of the typewriter keys, and 
passed under a set of metal bars or pulleys. The threads are 
carried back to the hand of an assistant behind the scenes, 
who pulls the threads and so causes the keys to sink, cor- 
respondingly, and the writing to progress. A detailed de- 
scription of the mechanism of this typewriter test will be 
found in Hopkins's Twentieth Century Magic, pp. 63-6. 

There has recently come to my notice a simple device or 
trick by means of which chalk marks may be apparently 
" precipitated " on the palm of the hand, when held beneath 
the table, the under side of which may be examined. The 
performer, in this case, asks his sitter to thoroughly exam- 
ine the under side of the table, which he does. He, the per- 
former, then shows the palm of his hand free from mark or 
preparation of any kind, the sleeves being rolled up to the 
elbow. The performer then places his hand under the table, 
and, in a few moments, brings it up, showing a distinct chalk 
mark on the palm of the hand. This is wiped off, and the 
hand again held under the table, when the same thing hap- 
pens. This may be repeated two or three times. 

The explanation is this: The performer rubs over the 
nails of his hand with sandpaper, just before the perform- 
ance, and rubs powdered chalk into the nails thus rendered 
rough and uneven. Now, by simply closing the finger on to 
the palm, a distinct impression is left which may be wiped off 
and reproduced by merely bending over each finger in turn. 



CHAPTER VII 



ROPE - TYING TESTS 



In all rope-tying tests the prime object of the medium 
is, of course, to free himself in the shortest possible space of 
time after the lights are turned out, and, at the same time, 
in a manner which will not betray that fact to any one car- 
ing to make an examination of the cords after the " release " 
is effected. With this in view the medium always endeavors 
to obtain a certain amount of " slack," as it is called, mean- 
ing a certain amount of retained cord which can be let out 
later on, and allow the cord to slacken up somewhat after the 
tying is effected. This " slack " is obtained in a great vari- 
ety of ways, of which I shall enumerate a few of the prin- 
cipal, since it would be impossible to enumerate them all; 
and, moreover, every medium has a more or less individual 
method of obtaining this " slack." The following will, how- 
ever, give a general outline of the methods employed, which 
must be worked out in detail by each person for himself. 

If the hands are tied to the back rung of the chair, sit 
well forward during this tying, so that, when you wish 
" slack," all you have to do is to sit back in the chair to 
obtain all you need. When the wrists have been tied and are 
being drawn down to the knees, to the chair-legs, or together 
at the back, one twist of the hand, and the rope is wound 
round the wrist twice, so that, when the time comes for the 
release, all you have to do is to twist the wrist once round 
in the reverse direction, and again you have all the slack 
you can possibly use. If you fail to get in the twist, do not 
let it disconcert you, and result in your being hopelessly 

143 



144 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

tied. But, if they proceed to tie your hands to your knees, 
sit up straight, thus compelling them to tie around the 
fleshy part of your leg. All you have to do to obtain the 
coveted slack is to lean forward and force your hands toward 
your knees, where the leg is much smaller, and the slack is 
yours to command. If they proceed to tie your hands to 
either the front or back legs of the chair, and you do not 
have an opportunity to twist on them, without their observ- 
ing, which sometimes happens, sit very erect and shorten 
your arms by not allowing them to entirely straighten and 
by elevating your shoulders as in shrugging, thus making 
the distance from the point on your wrist, where the rope 
is tied, to the topmost rung about four inches. It will al- 
ways be their endeavor to tie below the top rung around the 
leg. By slipping down in your seat you ought to have all 
the slack you can possibly make use of. If they are tying 
behind you, turn the inside edges of your hands together, 
and when they make the ends fast to the bottom rung, or 
any point below the hands, sit up straight, drawing the 
hands up just far enough to avoid it being observed, and 
there will be plenty of slack. A fundamentally important 
point to remember in all " rope ties " is that the rope should 
never be of the soft cottony type, but always stiff, hard, and 
more or less shiny. This slips very easily, and it will be 
found almost impossible to tie you with this kind of cord so 
that you cannot release yourself with a little effort and 
ingenuity. 

A very simple test tie with a piece of tape, braid, or rib- 
bon is the following, which I explained in The Woman's 
Home Companion, for April, 1900 (p. 20). I quote from 
the description there given. 

" One or two gentlemen are now selected from the audi- 
ence, who volunteer to come up and bind the ' medium's ' 
hands together. A piece of ribbon is given them for this 
purpose, about one and one-half inches wide and about one 
yard long. The medium now holds out one of his hands 
and allows the committee to securely tie the ribbon around 
his wrist, fastening it by six or eight stout knots and finish- 



Rope-tying Tests 145 

ing the operation by securely sealing these with wax. The 
right hand is now tied in a similar manner, the knots being 
sealed as before. The medium's two hands are now secure 
behind him, about a foot apart, and in that condition he 
takes his seat on the chair. . . ." (Various manifestations 
then take place which are described. The knots and seals 
are found intact, at the conclusion of the seance. Here is 
the explanation.) " The medium naturally wishes to use his 
right hand, being the more serviceable of the two, and so 
he offers the left hand to be bound first. This is done fairly 
and squarely, and the knots are sealed. Now, when the right 
hand comes to be tied up, it will be found that there is only 
one end to tie with, instead of two. Thus, every knot tied 
in the tape will be a kind of ' hitch ' around this single end, 
and is really a slip-knot, capable of being slipped up and 
down the piece of tape between the two wrists. If the hands 
are kept about a foot apart, and the ribbon or tape kept 
fairly taut during the operation of tying, no difficulty will 
be experienced in slipping the knots to and fro on the ribbon. 
This is hard to explain on paper, but will readily be under- 
stood when tried. A little care must be exercised when the 
sealing-wax is being applied. Impress your committee with 
the fact that they must not drop any of the wax on your 
wrists, and their desire to avoid this will nearly always cause 
them to put the lightest possible dab on ; also, you must 
remember that this will probably be between the knots, and 
hence of no consequence to you " (since they are not untied 
at all). 

The medium, if he knows his business, will always insist 
upon his legs, arms, and body being securely tied, though 
they may not have to be released at all in order that he may 
produce the manifestations required. He will, none the less, 
insist upon this tying being done with equal or even greater 
care than his hands, etc., since this will serve to distract the 
attention of the spectators from the real point at issue, and 
at the same time make the performance appear all the more 
wonderful to the uncritical observer. 

It is not always that the spectators are invited to place a 



146 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

signet upon the seals of the cord, the knots being simply 
sealed securely. This is the case when the medium finds him- 
self more or less hopelessly bound, and he has serious doubts 
as to whether he will be enabled to release himself or not. If 
so, well and good, but if not, the medium adopts a very dar- 
ing and, at the same time, a very ingenious method of get- 
ting free. He deliberately breaks the seals, works the knots 
loose, produces the manifestations required, replaces his 
hands in the loops, draws them tight again, and covers the 
knot with a portion of the chewing-gum he is chewing, blend- 
ing it in with the sealing-wax. The gum is specially chosen, 
being the same color as the sealing-wax. 

If the wrists are to be tied together behind the back one 
method of obtaining the necessary slack is as follows. Have 
the left wrist tied securely, the two loose ends hanging down. 
The right wrist is now placed over this and the two ends 
passed round this wrist, tied, sealed, etc. The secret is that 
in turning around, to place the hands behind the back, one 
end of the cord is passed over the middle finger, this fact 
being concealed by the covering right wrist (v. Fig. XII., p. 
164). It will readily be seen that all that is required to ob- 
tain the necessary slack is to bend down this finger, when the 
rope is released. It can readily be twisted over the finger 
again when desired. Mr. Wm. E. Robinson asserts that this 
was the method employed by the Davenport brothers, 1 but I 
have great doubts if this was the case. 

If there is no sealing, and the cord is not marked, the 
medium simply cuts the cord, and hides it about his person, 
bringing forward for examination a duplicate cord, which 
he has had secreted in his clothes from the first. In this 
case the tying can be as complicated as desired, many min- 
utes being taken in the operation, while less than one minute 
is required to not only effect the release of the medium, but 
untie every one of the knots ! Could a more convincing 
proof of the power of the spirits be conceived! 

There are two very difficult ties in which the hands are 
tied to the knees of the medium by a series of apparently 
1 See Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena, p. 88. 



Rope-tying Tests 147 

solid knots. They are known to mediums as " the double- 
header " and the " great front twist," respectively. These 
ties are very complicated, and would be difficult to give 
here without diagrams and an extended explanation. That 
I cannot now attempt. They will be found explained in 
great detail in Mr. TruesdelPs Bottom Facts Concerning the 
Science of Spiritualism, pp. 235-7 and 273-5 respectively. 
A simpler variety of this " twist " will be found explained 
in Mahatma, Vol. V., p. 82, February, 1902. 

Another test is the following, which I quote verbatim, to 
enable the reader to appreciate the manner in which medium- 
istic seances are treated by conjurers. " On a board the size 
of a table eyelets are carefully arranged at measured dis- 
tances apart and in such a manner that there are two for 
each sitter whether lady or gentleman, one for the right 
hand and one for the left. Beginning at any point in the 
circle a piece of copper wire is passed around the arm of the 
first sitter, through the eyelet of the board, around the other 
wrist, through the other eyelet, and so on to the next sitter. 
In this manner the wire is threaded through and through, 
fastening each person to the board, and to the neighbor on 
either side; in fact, to the entire circle. The company, in- 
cluding the medium, being interlaced, the ends of the wire 
are tied together, the joint covered first with paper, then 
with wax, and they are sewed and tied as desired and any 
seal is set on. Now the lights are extinguished and the 
usual manifestations take place. 

" Secret: The medium has on false shirt sleeves, so all he 
has to do is to slip out his arms as soon as the lights are 
extinguished, then go through the various manifestations, 
replace his arms in the sleeves, and call for lights. Now all 
can be examined and of course is found O. K. Then have 
some one cut the wire." 1 

For an extremely clever test I am indebted to Mr. Henry 
Ridley Evans's Hours with the Ghosts, from which I quote 
the following: 

" The spirit necktie is one of the best things in the whole 
1 Tricks in Magic, etc. By J. H. Burlingame, Vol. I., p. 34. 



148 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

range of mediumistic marvels, and has never to my knowl- 
edge been exposed. A rope is tied about the medium's neck 
with the knots at the back, and the ends are drawn through 
two holes in one side of the cabinet, and tied in a bow-knot 
on the outside. The holes in the cabinet must be on a level 
with the medium's neck, after he is seated. The curtains 
of the cabinet are then closed, and the committee requested 
to keep close watch on the bow-knot on the outside of the 
cabinet. The assistant, in a short time, pulls back the cur- 
tain from the cabinet on the side furthest from the medium, 
and reveals a sheeted figure which writes messages and speaks 
to the spectators. Other materializations take place. The 
curtain is drawn. At this juncture the medium is heard 
calling, ' Quick, quick. Release me.' The assistant un- 
fastens the bow-knot, the ends of the rope are quickly drawn 
into the cabinet, and the medium comes forward, looking 
somewhat exhausted, with the rope still tied about his neck. 
The question resolves itself into two factors: either the 
medium gets loose from the necktie and impersonates the 
spirits, or the materializations are genuine. 

" ' Gets loose. But that is impossible,' exclaim the com- 
mittee, ' we watched the cord in the closest way.' The secret 
of this surprising feat lies in a clever substitution. The 
tie is genuine, but the medium, after the curtains of the cab- 
inet are closed, cuts the cord with a sharp knife, just about 
the region of the throat, and impersonates the ghosts, with 
the aid of various wigs and disguises concealed about him. 
Then he takes a second cord from his pocket, ties it about 
his neck with the same number of knots as are in the original 
rope, and twists the necktie around so that these knots will 
appear at the back of his neck. Now he exclaims, s Quick, 
quick, unfasten the cord.' As soon as his assistant has un- 
tied the simple bow-knot on the outside of the cabinet, the 
medium quickly pulls the genuine rope into the cabinet and 
conceals it in his pocket. 

" When he presents himself to the spectators the rope 
about his neck (presumed to be the original) is found to be 
correctly tied and untampered with. Much of the effect de- 



Rope-tying Tests 149 

pends on the rapidity with which the medium conceals the 
original cord and comes out of the cabinet. The author has 
seen this trick performed in parlors, the holes being bored 
in a door " (pp. 156-60). 

We must now consider, in detail, one very famous tie, made 
so by Miss Annie Eva Fay ; I refer to the " Cotton Bandage 
Test." This tie, now forever associated with the name of 
Miss Fay, is one of the most baffling, one of the most ingen- 
ious, as well as one of the simplest ties that can be imagined. 
For the benefit of those of my readers who may not have 
had the opportunity of seeing Miss Fay perform her act, 
and in order to make the explanation more easily intelligible, 
I shall very briefly summarize a description of her seance, 
which will doubtless prove of interest. 

A committee is first of all chosen to come upon the stage 
and examine the cabinet, the chair, the bandages, etc., and 
to do the tying later on. Nothing of a suspicious nature 
is found. The medium is firmly tied about each wrist with 
a simple cotton bandage, about one and a half inches wide 
by a half a yard in length. The committee usually ties these 
bandages in a plain double square knot, drawing each knot 
down tight, though they are not forced to do so. In order 
to be certain that these knots are not untied, the committee 
is allowed to sew these knots securely together with a needle 
and thread, the cotton bandage rendering this quite possible. 
The medium now places her hands behind her, and, so clasp- 
ing them that her wrists are but six inches apart, politely 
requests the more nervous of the two committeemen to tie 
the ends of the bandage firmly together. After this has 
been accomplished, the dangling extremities of the bandages 
are cut off, and the last knot is sewed, if necessary, leaving 
the medium firmly bound, with a short ligature between her 
wrists. Another cotton bandage is passed about this liga- 
ture and tied in several additional knots, which may also be 
sewn through. The medium is now seated upon a stool in 
the cabinet facing the audience, with her back to a wooden 
stanchion, about six feet high, which has been firmly fastened 
to the floor. The ends of the cotton bandage are secured to 



150 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

a ring attached by a staple to the stanchion, at a point just 
above the stool upon which she is seated. A cotton bandage 
is then tied about the medium's neck, the ends of which are 
fastened to a screw-eye affixed to the stanchion, in order 
to secure her head firmly. Her feet are then fastened to- 
gether by means of a cord passing around the ankles, the 
long end of which is carried outside of the cabinet, to be held 
by one of the committee. A tambourine, tin horn, and one 
or two bells are now placed in the medium's lap, and the 
curtain drawn. Instantly the bells are rung, the horn tooted, 
the tambourine banged, etc., in the midst of which a voice 
calls for " light," when the cabinet is at once opened and 
the medium is seen sitting inside, never having moved, ap- 
parently. A hoop placed on the medium's lap is found over 
her shoulders. A tambourine with a glass, partly filled with 
water, standing upon it, is now placed on the medium's lap; 
the curtains drawn, but within a few seconds the medium's 
cry for " light " is heard ; the curtain is again withdrawn, 
and the glass is found empty. This is most astonishing, for 
it must be remembered that the medium's head is securely 
tied to the stanchion at the back, and cannot be bent forward 
one particle, while any assistance from her hands seems im- 
possible. A member of the committee is now chosen, blind- 
folded, and placed in the cabinet alongside the medium. 
Sometimes he is allowed to place one hand on the medium's 
head and the other on her knee. In spite of his presence, 
however, the usual manifestations occur, though the inves- 
tigator has not felt the least perceptible movement on the 
part of the medium. 

After this, other tests are undertaken. A tambourine flies 
out of the cabinet at the aperture, to the amazement of all 
beholders. A nail is driven into a board by some spirit car- 
penter, who makes as much noise as if he were still in the 
flesh. After a number of such tests the performance closes, 
and the committee is invited to come forward and inspect 
the knots, etc., and see that they have not been tampered with. 
A careful examination is made, and the committee announces 
that the threads are still unbroken, and that it would have 



Rope-tying Tests 151 

been an utter impossibility for the medium to have untied the 
knots, or to have produced the manifestations that had been 
witnessed. In this they were partly right and partly wrong, 
as we shall now see. 

It will, I think, be generally acknowledged that all of the 
marvels just enumerated could have been accomplished if the 
medium had the free use of one hand : the bells could be rung, 
the horn and the glass of water lifted to the mouth, the 
tambourine thumped, the nail driven into the board, etc. 
Everything thus depends upon the medium having a certain 
amount of freedom with this hand, say the right. But it 
may be objected that this freedom is impossible, since the 
hands are securely tied and the knots sewn through, render- 
ing it impossible for the medium to untie them without de- 
tection. Further, the knots are frequently sealed and the 
ends fastened together with pieces of sticking-plaster, etc. 
I grant all that. It would be quite impossible for the me- 
dium to release herself from this tie in the usual manner. 
And herein consists the simplicity and the ingenuity of this 
tie. In order to perform all the marvels I have enumerated, 
it is not necessary for the medium to release her hand at all! 
Owing to the peculiar method of tying, the medium has all 
the slack she requires without untying the hands or loosening 
any of the ties or seals whatever. This can easily be shown 
to be the case by means of a little calculation. Mr. John W. 
Truesdell was the first to expose the method employed by 
Miss Fay, if I am not mistaken, and from his Bottom Facts, 
pp. 272-3, I quote the following : 

" By the peculiar method in which the medium holds her 
hands, while submitting to the tying process on the part of 
the committee, . . . the spirits secure, for their uses, a liga- 
ture of knotted cloth between the hands, at least six inches 
in length. The bandage attached to the centre, as before 
mentioned, is usually tied in four or five double square knots, 
allowing, at least, two inches play between the centre of the 
ligature and the ring to which it is fastened. This ring is 
two and a half inches in diameter, and is secured to the 
stanchion by a half -inch staple. The medium's left hand 



152 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

adds six inches more, while the bandage on her wrist will 
easily slip along her slender and delicate arm, at least half- 
way to the elbow, all of which gives the ' spirits ' a clear 
leeway of not less than twenty inches from the stanchion. 
The moment the curtain is closed, the medium (under spirit 
influence) spreads her hands as far apart as possible, an 
act which stretches the knotted ligature so that the bandage 
about it will easily slip from the centre to either wrist; 
then, throwing her lithe form, by a quick movement, to the 
left, so that her hips will pass the stanchion without moving 
her feet from the floor, the spirits are able, through the me- 
dium, to reach whatever may have been placed upon her 
lap." 

I do not think further explanation of this performance 
will be necessary. 

For the sake of historical completeness, however, I should 
like to state that Mr. Podmore has examined the existing 
evidence for supernormal phenomena happening in the pres- 
ence of this medium, and found it to be exceedingly weak and 
defective in all cases except in the experiments conducted by 
Sir William Crookes. 1 In this case the medium was seated 
in a chair, " and two brass handles, wrapped in wet cloths, 
were given her to hold, the circuit (electric) being thus com- 
pleted. The index of the galvanometer remained practically 
constant for some eight minutes, and during those eight 
minutes, various articles, placed in the library at a consid- 
erable distance from the medium, are reported to have been 
moved, a hand was seen thrust through the curtain, a locked 
desk was opened, and so on. At the end of the eight minutes 
the index went to zero, and the medium was found in a faint- 
ing condition." Mr. Podmore suggests that the medium 
previously provided herself with some " connecting substance 
(pace Mr. Lang!) of a resistance approximately equal to 
that of her body." As she had (probably) been previously 
tested before in this manner, by Serjeant Cox, 2 she came 



1 Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., pp. 85-6 and 157-8. 

2 Mechanism of Man, Vol. II., p. 446. 



Rope-tying Tests 153 

to this seance with a knowledge of the apparatus, and the 
sort of test to which she was to be submitted. 1 

I have reserved for special and somewhat lengthy con- 
sideration the method of tying employed by the Davenport 
brothers — this for several reasons. I now turn to a con- 
sideration of their performance, describing it in some detail. 

The Davenport brothers were undoubtedly the mediums 
who first brought rope-tying seances to the public atten- 
tion. Their reputation was anything but spotless, as Mr. 
Podmore shows. 2 But, quite apart from such evidence as 
Mr. Podmore has accumulated, it is well known by the con- 
juring fraternity that their performances were fraudulent. 
Mr. Maskelyne detected the actual methods of the Daven- 
port brothers by seeing, with his own eyes, the method of 
their escape. This occurred owing to an accident, a curtain 
falling at an inopportune moment. He afterward succeeded 
in exactly duplicating, and even improving upon, their per- 
formance. 3 Their methods were well known to the late Alex- 
ander Hermann. By far the most convincing piece of evi- 
dence of all, however, is the fact that the magician, Harry 
Kellar, served in the capacity of assistant to the Davenport 
brothers for a considerable time, and learned from them the 
mysteries of rope-tying ! 4 In the face of evidence of this 
kind, I do not see how any intelligent person, who is in pos- 
session of the facts of the case, can hesitate for one moment 
in declaring the Davenport brothers clever tricksters. 

In order to clear away any doubts in my readers' minds, 
however, that the performance of the brothers Davenport 
was trickery, and nothing but trickery, and partly because 
of the great influence of these mediums on the history of the 
subject, I give, herewith, a detailed description of the 
methods employed by the Davenports, both for their dark 
and light seances, and I shall use, for this purpose, the nar- 
rative-description given by Houdin, in his Secrets of Stage 

1 It must be remembered that the present Annie Eva Fay, who is giving 
public performances through the United States, is not the original medium 
of that name — though I do not deny that they are of the same genus. 

2 Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., p. 60. 3 The Supernatural ? p. 190. 
4 Magic and Its Professors, p. 72. 



154 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Conjuring, pp. 160-213. I quote from this account for two 
reasons: -first, because it is given by a trained observer and 
conjurer, and I think it a good example of the differences 
between " what actually occurred " and " what apparently 
took place." Second, because it is so little known. I do not 
remember that Mr. Podmore, with all his exhaustive reading, 
even mentioned this account in his Modern Spiritualism, and, 
indeed, it is known to but few persons outside of the regular 
conjuring fraternity, as it occurs in a work on stage magic 
which would be unlikely to fall into the hands of any one 
not especially interested in that branch of reading. The 
account is intensely interesting, and is worth quoting at 
length. For these reasons I have given considerable space 
to this quotation, which, I feel sure, the reader will agree is 
well occupied, when he comes to read the report. 

The Performance of the Brothers Davenport 

Part I. — The Cabinet. — We are in one of the smaller 
rooms belonging to the Salle Herz, in the Rue de la Victoire, 
a room which may accommodate some sixty persons. The 
apartment is divided by a railing of a little more than a yard 
high into two equal portions. On the one side of this divi- 
sion are the seats allotted to the spectators, and on the other 
the cabinet which is intended to be used for the performance. 
This piece of furniture, which is of the slightest possible 
construction, rests on trestles, and is of such a size as to 
contain just three persons, seated or standing. To the sides 
of the cabinet, on the inside, are hung divers musical instru- 
ments, such as a violin, guitar, trumpet, tambourine, and bell. 
Three doors to be closed as occasion may require serve to 
screen the mediums from the public view. 

Before the commencement of the performance, several of 
the spectators are invited to come within the railed-off por- 
tion of the room, and to place themselves in a circle round 
the cabinet, so as to bar all communication from without. 

The first point is the binding of the two Americans. All 
present agree in selecting, for the performance of this deli- 



Rope-tying Tests 155 

cate task, a veteran naval officer, who is expert in knots of 
every description, and in whose skill every one appears to 
have the utmost confidence. 

The ropes which are intended to be used are first tendered 
for examination. We search the two young men as if we 
were representatives of the police force, and having taken 
every possible precaution against any trick or artifice, we 
turn our attention to the actual tying. 

The Americans step into the cabinet, and place themselves 
on the seats to which they are to be tied. Our naval repre- 
sentative takes a cord, marks it, to make sure that there is 
no substitution ; he takes note of its precise length, and then, 
by means of regular " sailors' knots," hitherto reputed in- 
vincible, he ties up, first one brother, then the other. He 
pinions their arms to their sides, ties their legs firmly to- 
gether ; in fact, he so ties and lashes them to their seats and 
to the cross-rails, that every one regards the defeat of the 
Americans as a foregone conclusion ; they must, beyond a 
doubt, be driven to cry for quarter. 

We have stated that the cabinet has three doors. In the 
middle is cut, at about the height of a man's head, a lozenge- 
shaped aperture. The side doors are first closed, simultane- 
ously, and lastly the centre door, but, mirabile dictw, scarcely 
has this last been closed, than we see appear, at the opening 
above mentioned, the arms of the right-hand prisoner, — 
still rosy with the friction of the famous " sailors' knots." 
The surprise, the astonishment, nay, the stupefaction of 
the spectators, are beyond description; they hesitate to be- 
lieve the testimony of their own eyes ; they f ugitively glance 
around, each seeking to confirm his own impressions by those 
of his neighbor ; but all are in the same condition of be- 
wilderment, and equally unable to afford the slightest guid- 
ance. Finally, they give up the riddle as hopeless, and 
render to the performers a well-earned tribute of applause. 

A little later, and the three doors are opened. We see the 
two brothers, with smiling countenances, step down from the 
cabinet freed from their bonds, which they now carry in 
their hands. More than ten minutes had been occupied in 



156 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

tying them up; a single minute had sufficed for their re- 
lease. 

This first feat concluded, the young men again step into 
the cabinet, and take their seats. The cords are laid in a 
heap at their feet, and the doors closed. Two minutes later, 
the doors are opened, and we find the mediums again in 
bondage. They have tied themselves up in the darkness, and 
their hands are found firmly secured behind their backs. 
The tying is examined, and is declared to be as secure as 
on the first occasion. It should here be repeated that, during 
the whole of the seance, sundry spectators keep constant 
watch on all sides of the cabinet; that this latter is raised 
on trestles; and that the hall is kept sufficiently light to 
enable any one to see without difficulty. 

Now, however, still more astonishing phenomena are about 
to take place. The doors are put to with the utmost pos- 
sible quickness, but scarcely is the last one closed, than a 
concerto of the most eccentric character becomes audible; 
the violin strikes up under the touch of a vigorously handled 
bow, the guitar is thrummed, the tambourine marks time, the 
bell rings, the horn is vigorously blown, the whole forming 
a discord of the most awful description. Occasionally a 
variety of other noises, knocks, and heavy blows, is added to 
the infernal concert. Suddenly there is dead silence, and 
an arm, bare to the shoulder, is seen to pass through a hole 
in the door, ringing the bell with frantic energy. 

At the very moment when the noise is most deafening, if 
the doors of the cabinet are suddenly opened, the musical 
instruments are seen in the place they originally occupied, 
and the two brothers are motionless on their seats, and tied 
up as before. As soon as the doors are closed, the hullaba- 
loo begins again, but each time that the doors are opened, 
the mediums are found, calm, motionless, and still firmly 
tied. I have forgotten to mention that at each of the " spir- 
itualistic manifestations " the horn and the bell are flung 
through the opening in the door and fall at the feet of the 
spectators. 

By way of check upon these tricksy spirits, it is requested 



Rope-tying Tests 157 

that some one of the company, to be selected by the audience, 
will take a seat in the cabinet between the two brothers. A 
representative is selected accordingly; he places himself on 
the seat in the centre, and in order to ensure his giving no 
assistance to the mediums, one of his hands is tied to the 
shoulder of one of the brothers, and his other hand upon the 
knee of the other brother. This arrangement further en- 
sures that there can be no movement on the part of the me- 
diums without the knowledge of the person thus chosen. As 
soon as the doors are closed, however, the witches' sab- 
bath is again heard in the cabinet, the various musical 
instruments appearing to vie with each other, which 
shall make the most noise. An instant, and the hubbub 
ceases ; the doors are opened, and the unlucky visitor is seen 
with his head wrapped in his own pocket-handkerchief, with 
the tambourine by way of head-dress, while his cravat is 
neatly tied around the neck of his right-hand neighbor, his 
spectacles are on the nose of his left-hand neighbor, and his 
watch, even, is found to have travelled from one pocket to 
another. The representative of the public is freed from his 
encumbrances, and is instantly surrounded and cross-ques- 
tioned. He declares that all he felt was a slight tickling of 
the nose, when, at the selfsame moment, he was covered with 
his pocket-handkerchief, and robbed of his spectacles, and 
can give no other explanation. Meanwhile, the wrists of the 
mediums are still found firmly tied behind their backs. Flour 
is produced, and a little is put, with a spoon, into each hand 
of the mediums. No sooner is the door closed than the coat 
of one of the prisoners is passed through the aperture. The 
doors are instantly opened, the knots examined, the doors 
again closed, and scarcely two minutes elapse before the two 
brothers step out of the cabinet entirely freed from their 
bonds; they come forward to the spectators and show that 
their hands are still full of the flour which had been placed 
therein. It should be stated that the young men are dressed 
in black, and that not the slightest trace of flour is to be seen 
on their garments. 



158 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Part II. — The Dark Seance. — The scenic arrangements 
of this exhibition are of the simplest possible character. 
The cabinet and its trestles are removed and put on one 
side, and are replaced by a small table, on which are placed 
two guitars and a tambourine, which we have already seen 
employed in the first part of the performance. 

These preparations, which are very deliberately made, 
have given the two brothers time to take a little rest in an 
adjoining room. They speedily return, and seat themselves 
on two slightly made chairs, one on each side of the table. 
Each places at his feet a coil of rope. 

At their request, made through their interpreter, some 
fourteen or fifteen members of the audience come and take 
seats near the Americans, and, joining hands, form an im- 
penetrable wall round them. Two gas-jets, one on each side 
of the enclosed portion of the hall, are alone lighted. A 
person is posted beside each of these burners, to turn the 
light up or down as may be required. 

At a signal given by one of the two brothers, the room is 
placed in complete darkness for a space of about two min- 
utes. A solemn silence prevails throughout the assembly, 
so much are all present impressed by the weird singularity 
of the scene. The privileged spectators who form the pro- 
tective circle are so close to the mediums, that the least move- 
ment on the part of the latter, the slightest rustle of their 
garments, would be distinctly audible. Each lends an atten- 
tive ear, and seeks to catch the slightest sound of a suspicious 
character, but, in the very midst of this strained attention, 
the light is suddenly turned up, and the two Americans are 
seen securely tied; their legs, arms, and bodies are alike 
covered with a network of cords binding them to the chairs 
on which they were seated; their wrists are pinioned behind 
their backs, and lashed to the " stretchers " of the chairs. 
The chairs are likewise firmly tied to the table. Spectators 
gather round, they examine the various knots, and are con- 
strained to admit that they are honestly tied. 

Again we are placed in darkness, and instantly the mu- 
sical instruments placed on the table are heard in mysterious 






Rope-tying Tests 159 

harmony. Suddenly, the gas is turned up, and, simultane- 
ously with the appearance of the light, the concert ceases. 
The instruments show no sign of having moved from their 
places, and the mediums are tied up as before. 

The spectators begin to experience an indescribable sensa- 
tion of " all-over-ishness." There is very little applause ; a 
performance of this kind is not calculated to produce a feel- 
ing of exaltation. On the contrary, it rather tends to make 
one feel a kind of nervous depression. True believers regard 
the phenomena in question as the genuine work of spirits, 
and even the incredulous and the skeptical are forced to 
admit that these pretended supernatural manifestations are, 
to say the least, remarkably well executed. As yet, more- 
over, we have by no means arrived at the most remarkable 
phenomena of this mysterious performance. 

In order to afford the company absolute certainty that 
the ligatures are not unfastened, one of the spectators who 
happens to be nearest is asked to apply some melted sealing- 
wax to the knots which bind the wrists, and to impress a seal 
thereon. Meanwhile, the guitars and the tambourine are 
smeared with a phosphorescent liquid which renders them 
distinguishable in the dark. 

The moment that the room is again placed in darkness, 
the guitars and the tambourine begin to move, and leave the 
places they occupy, at the same time producing the most 
lugubrious sounds. They are seen to rise in the air, and to 
move about in luminous curves ; then to take an erratic 
course, and wander about the hall, flitting just over the 
heads of the spectators. One guitar just ruffles this gentle- 
man's hair, another brushes against that gentleman's coat; 
and yet, though frequently moving in an abrupt and jerky 
manner, neither of the instruments comes in actual contact 
with either the spectators or the ceiling; at most, as they 
pass close to your face, you feel a sudden draught, a puff of 
wind that causes you instinctively to draw your head back, 
for fear of receiving a blow. The situation is rather painful 
than pleasant. One experiences a sort of indefinable feeling 



160 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

of dread, which for the time being paralyzes the reflective 
faculties. 

In the middle of these eccentric evolutions the lights are 
turned up, and the instruments are found resting on the laps 
of the spectators. The seals of the knots are examined, and 
are found to be unbroken. 

A further precaution is now taken to guarantee the spec- 
tators against any trickery, if they still entertain any doubt 
on the subject. A sheet of paper is placed under the feet 
of each of the mediums, and the outline of his boots is traced 
with a pencil thereon. If by some mysterious means they 
manage to get free from their bonds, and to leave their 
seats, this sheet of paper will betray them. If it is shifted 
but a quarter of an inch, trickery stands confessed. The 
public appear to put complete faith in this test. In addi- 
tion, a spectator is requested to take off his coat or overcoat, 
and to lay it across his knees. 

These arrangements being completed, the gas is extin- 
guished, and during some few minutes of darkness, the gui- 
tars again strike up their unearthly music, and recommence 
their eccentric movements. But, even while these musical 
will-o'-the-wisps are still hovering in space, one spectator 
finds himself suddenly deprived of his hat, which is wafted 
several yards away ; another has his hair dishevelled by 
mysterious fingers ; a third feels his hand shaken by an in- 
visible hand; the coat, above referred to, is whisked away 
from its owner, while another spectator finds on his lap some 
indistinguishable garment-like object. When the gas is re- 
lighted, the two brothers are seen perfectly composed, still 
bound, and apparently quite innocent of any concern with 
what has just taken place. A rush is made to examine the 
seals, they are found intact ; the sheet of paper is inspected, 
the sole has not shifted by a hair's-breadth from the outline 
traced around it. But the fact which puts a climax to the 
general astonishment is, that one of the brothers, though still 
tied up and the knots sealed, is wearing the spectator's miss- 
ing coat, while the other has a hat on his head and a pair 
of spectacles on his nose. These three articles belong to 



Rope-tying Tests 161 

three different spectators. The medium's own coat is found 
in the hall on the lap of one of the spectators. 

At this stage of the proceedings, the astonishment, indeed, 
one might say the stupefaction, the bewilderment of the 
audience reaches its utmost limit; spiritualistic manifesta- 
tion or imposture, supernatural phenomenon or mere con- 
juring tricks, the performance is perfect of its kind. Put- 
ting aside for the moment reflection or investigation, we 
simply make up our minds to pay the performers a well- 
earned tribute of applause. 

Explanation of the Artifices Whereby the Pretended Spirit- 
ualistic Manifestations and the " Inexplicable " Phenom- 
ena of the Brothers Davenport Are Produced. 

Ordinary conjurers, as a rule, use special apparatus to 
facilitate the execution of their marvels. The Davenports 
have, strictly speaking, nothing but their " ropes." The 
cabinet lends no assistance whatever in the actual execution 
of the tricks. An ordinary screen and a couple of chairs 
might, on emergency, be used in its stead. It serves, in 
truth, simply to cover the manipulations of the mediums. 
The musical instruments may be considered as mere acces- 
sories. 

The ropes used are of cotton fibre ; their make is the same 
as that of the cords which are used to draw curtains back- 
ward and forward, and they present therefore smooth sur- 
faces, adapted to slip easily one upon another. In length 
they are about ten feet. 

When, at the outset of the performance, a certain number 
of spectators are invited to step upon the platform, and to 
surround the cabinet, they are requested to join hands, under 
the pretext of establishing a magnetic circle around the 
mediums. In reality, the object is to preclude the possi- 
bility of individual attempts to solve the mystery. For the 
same reason, the spectators in the front row are required to 
join hands in like manner. 

The two brothers place themselves on the seats of the 



162 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

cabinet, and each hands three ropes to the person selected to 
secure him to his seat. At first sight it may be imagined 
that this is a very easy matter, but in truth it is quite the 
reverse. To begin with, upon what system will you proceed, 
and where will you commence? You have in all probability 
never before had occasion to bind a prisoner. Sometimes 
the person appointed is of an easy-going disposition; he 
thinks less of creating difficulties for his victim than of get- 
ting his task well over ; he ties his man up " anyhow," so to 
speak. In such case everything is in favor of the success 
of the trick. But very often, on the other hand, the medium 
has to do with a keen and vigorous antagonist, who takes a 
serious view of the duty he has undertaken, and considers 
his own reputation for smartness at stake. His first pro- 
ceeding is to place the hands of the patient behind his back 
and to fasten them there securely. He next brings the cord 
to the front, thence back again ; passes it under the arms, 
and finishes off with a knot which he regards as invincible. 
With the two remaining cords he surrounds the feet, the 
thighs, and arms of the medium, and lashes these parts also 
firmly to the seats of the cabinet. Vain precaution ! Every 
knot, every form of ligature is necessarily capable of being 
again untied. 

While he is being tied up, the medium places himself in 
any position which may be required of him; but with his 
keen Yankee eye, he sees at once the kind of person with 
whom he has to do. The easy-going representative he does 
not trouble himself about ; he lets such a person do just as 
he pleases. But with the other kind of delegate he is keenly 
on the watch, and strives silently to neutralize his hostile in- 
tentions. If he finds himself being too tightly tied, he utters 
a faint cry of pain, which, however, he makes believe at once 
to repress. This little piece of acting nearly always suc- 
ceeds ; the rest of the ligatures are almost invariably tied 
with a certain amount of forbearance. Or again, the me- 
dium, without appearing to do so, expands various portions 
of his frame, either by simply raising his shoulders, holding 
the arms away from the body, or lastly, by opposing a 



Rope-tying Tests 163 

secret resistance in the direction in which the pressure is the 
strongest. 

When the tying up is complete, the first endeavor of the 
medium is, by dint of a particular movement which it is 
impossible to describe, to work up toward the shoulders the 
cords which are round the forearms, so as to give these last 
a little freedom. Next comes a process of pulling and strain- 
ing; the wrists, drawn vigorously apart, operate as levers 
straining against the loops through which they pass ; and, 
by persistent pulling, they stretch such parts of the cord 
as may be susceptible of such extension. A quarter of an 
inch, or little more, of play, will suffice for the deliverance 
of one or the other hand. It should be stated, that by dint 
of special practice, on the part of our mediums, the thumb 
is made to lie flat in the hand, when the whole assumes a 
cylindrical form of scarcely greater diameter than the wrist. 

The first to get free of the four hands is passed through 
the opening, and shows itself to the spectators, while the 
three others still labor for the common deliverance. The 
hands once free, the remaining cords and the knots are then 
untied; the teeth rendering valuable service in this particu- 
lar. 

Ira Davenport ... is cleverer and more active than his 
brother, and is almost invariably the first to release himself. 
When this is so, he helps William. In any case, the first to 
get free assists the other. 

When the mediums bind themselves in their cabinet, the 
mode of tying which they employ enables them to free them- 
selves and again secure themselves in an extremely small 
space of time. . . . 

To produce such arrangement they proceed as follows: 
They take one of the cords by the middle, and form at that 
point a bow or double loop. (To produce this knot, all that 
is necessary is to wind the cord once round the fingers, and 
through the ring thus formed to draw a small portion of the 
cord on each side, in opposite directions.) 

The reader will perceive that this is in fact a double slip- 
knot, the loops of which may be diminished or increased in 



164 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

size, according as the ends . . . are drawn tight or re- 
leased (v. Fig. XIIL, p. 164). 

Leaving the two loops open as above, the performers pass 
through two holes, bored purposely in the seat, the two ends 
of the cord, which is long enough to be tied round their 
feet, and attached to the cross-bar in front. With the two 
other cords, they bind their thighs to the side rails, and 
sometimes also the arms close to the body. This done, they 
pass their hands through the loops, which they then draw 
tight by extending their legs slightly forward. Upon this 
" dodge " rests the whole pretended intervention of the spir- 
its and the racket in which they indulge. In point of fact, 
no sooner are the doors of the cabinet closed than the two 
brothers draw back their legs a little and slacken the knot, 
thus enabling themselves to draw out their hands and to 
become free. The violin, the guitars, the tambourine, and 
the bell are almost instantaneously set in motion, making a 
row of the most hideous description, which is still further 
enhanced by occasional kicks and thumps on the sides of the 
cabinet itself. After a short interval the instruments are 
restored to their original positions, the wrists are replaced 
in their ligatures, the doors are flung open, and all appear 
in due order as at first. 

A representative selected by the audience is requested, as 
already described, to step upon the platform; he takes his 
place in the cabinet upon the seat in the middle. One of his 
hands is tied to Ira's shoulder, and the other to William's 
knee. But is it not obvious that this precaution, which is 
ostensibly taken against the two brothers, is really in their 
favor? They have no need, in truth, to stir either knee or 
shoulder in order to carry out their mischievous pranks ; and 
the stranger, having his hands tied, has no control whatever 
over their proceedings. He becomes a mere dummy; and 
under such circumstances, there is not the least difficulty in 
removing his spectacles (if he wears any), his necktie, or his 
pocket-handkerchief, and in crowning him with the tam- 
bourine. 

Placing flour in the hands of the two brothers does not at 



Rope-tying Tests 165 

all interfere with their drawing them out of the slip-knot. 
The hands once free, they pour the flour into a pocket made 
on purpose in their coats, wipe their hands on the inside of 
the pocket, then pass them one after another through the 
opening in the door, to show that they are free, and finally 
indulge, as before, in their noisy concerto; after which, one 
of the brothers takes from his side pocket a little paper bag 
filled with flour, pours some into the hands of his companion 
and into one of his own, replaces the empty bag in its hiding- 
place, and then gives his other hand its due proportion of 
flour. The doors are opened, and the two brothers, freed 
from their bonds, come forward to show the public that their 
hands are still full of flour. 

This little " flour test " terminated on one occasion in a 
manner which was rather embarrassing to the mediums, 
though highly diverting to the spectators. The person 
deputed to place flour in the hands of the mediums hit on 
the cute idea of using snuff instead. The mediums saw noth- 
ing of the change, for at the moment in question, their hands 
are held behind their backs. The two brothers reappeared 
with flour in their hands ! The trick which had been played 
upon them was then explained, and there was a hearty laugh 
all round, except, indeed, on the part of the discomfited 
tricksters. 

The explanation of the second portion, or Dark Seance, 
will be readily understood, inasmuch as the tricks still mainly 
rest on the famous " slip-knot " of which we have already 
spoken. The two brothers are seated on either side of a 
table, on which are laid the guitars and tambourines ; they 
have at their feet a heap of cords; around them is formed 
the magnetic circle of spectators, each holding the hand of 
his neighbor. The lights are turned down, and forthwith 
the two brothers lash themselves to their chairs after the 
manner above described. . . . The only difference lies in 
the form of the seats used. Just as in the case of the cab- 
inet, they can at pleasure fasten or unfasten themselves, 
and play the instruments which are on the table. 

But, it may be asked, how do they manage when the knot 



166 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

which attaches them is sealed? The reader will note (from 
the description given above) that it is quite possible to put 
wax on the middle of the knot, and even to seal the two por- 
tions of the cord at this point firmly together, without the 
movement of the ends A or B, or that of the loops themselves, 
being at all interfered with. When the wrists are placed 
in the loops, this portion of the knot is always uppermost. 
And, further, the interpreter takes good care to indicate 
the precise point at which the seal is to be applied, adding 
a request that the investigator will be careful not to allow 
the melted wax to touch the wrists. This remark is sure to 
induce an amount of reserve which is very favorable to the 
success of the trick. Finally, it should be remarked, that 
the cord being as thick as the little finger, the impression 
of the seal cannot possibly extend beyond the point of junc- 
tion of the two fixed portions. 

We have, however, still sundry marvels to explain, viz., the 
fantastic evolutions of the guitars, the sheet of paper under 
the feet, the coat taken off and replaced, etc. 

The guitars and the tambourine are smeared with a phos- 
phorescent liquid whose faint glimmer does not shine brightly 
enough to reveal the outline of surrounding objects. The 
company are therefore in total darkness. Ira frees himself 
from his bonds, and, by the aid of a faculty which he has 
acquired of seeing in the dark (nyctalopia), he seizes one of 
the luminous guitars by the neck, steps forward with it as 
close as possible to the circle of spectators, and waves it over 
their heads, at the same time twanging the strings with the 
third and fourth fingers. The absence of any other object 
wherewith to compare prevents the spectator forming any 
decided judgment as to the distance of this vaguely luminous 
body; indeed, I have myself known a guitar which was al- 
most touching my head to appear to be several yards away. 
Meanwhile, the other medium, having so sufficiently freed 
himself from his bonds, holds up the other phosphorescent 
guitar and tambourine as high as he can, and with these two 
instruments makes as much noise and as much movement as 
possible. 






Rope-tying Tests 167 

The trick of the outline of the feet marked on the sheet 
of paper is very ingenious. Ira, after the above measure 
of precaution has been duly taken, quits his position on the 
sheet of paper in order to approach the spectators, but when 
he returns to his seat, takes care to turn over the sheet of 
paper before placing his feet upon it; and then, by means 
of a pencil, which he takes from one of his pockets, he traces 
another outline, which is taken to be the same which had been 
made by the public. 

The " coat " trick is worked as follows : Ira, freed from 
his bonds, takes off his coat, throws it into the middle of the 
hall, and catching up one which he has had placed on the 
lap of a spectator in the front row, puts it on instead, then 
replaces himself in his ligatures, and the trick is done. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SPIRIT POSTS, SACKS, HANDCUFFS, ETC. 

I now pass on to consider, briefly, other varieties of " spirit 
ties," in which other methods are employed, in securing the 
medium, than merely tying him with ropes ; but, inasmuch 
as many of these partake more of the nature of conjuring 
tricks than spiritualistic manifestations, properly speaking, 
and are found described in the numerous books devoted to 
magic, etc., I shall give only a slight resume of such methods 
and devices, and shall refer my interested reader to the vari- 
ous books from which I shall quote, for further information 
on this most interesting subject. As a book of this char- 
acter, however, would not be complete without some mention 
of such fraudulent methods, and as many persons really da 
believe that the medium or performer (as the case may be) 
escapes from his bonds in some " supernatural " manner, it 
will be necessary for me to describe some of the most fre- 
quently used methods, and explain the manner of release 
from these ties, locks, handcuffs, etc. 

The first of these that I shall describe is known to the 
initiated as " the spiritualistic post test." The test is this. 
A solid beam of wood is fastened to the floor in an upright 
position, in any manner the committee may please, nailed, 
screwed, etc., so as to make sure that the post is not removed 
from its place, when once it has been fastened. A hole is 
now bored through the post (by one of the committee also), 
near the top, and a piece of ordinary rope (which may be 
examined) is passed through this hole and fastened with a 
knot on each side. This prevents the rope from being drawn 

168 



Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 169 

in either direction. The medium's hands are now securely 
fastened to the post by means of the loose ends of the rope, 
and the knots may be sealed as much as desired. A nail is 
then driven into the top of the post, and around this nail 
(which is only partly driven home) is passed a second rope, 
the two ends of which pass through small openings in the 
sides of the cabinet, and are held by members of the com- 
mittee. This ensures that the post does not move from the 
floor during the course of the experiments. Apparently 
nothing could be fairer or more secure; nevertheless, mani- 
festations take place as soon as the curtains are drawn; 
immediately they are drawn, in fact. 

It is hardly necessary to state that it is the medium who 
is producing all the manifestations, and that he has escaped 
from his bonds in spite of the elaborate precautions taken 
to preclude that possibility. This is how the trick is per- 
formed. Before the seance begins, the medium selects his 
post, and in the centre of one end of this he bores a hole, 
into which he inserts a sharp chisel with a large, flat head, 
instead of a handle, which is missing. The hole is then 
closed, either with a plug of the same wood, or with a mix- 
ture of glue and sawdust. The post now presents the ap- 
pearance of any other piece of wood, and a close examination 
is necessary before it becomes evident that the post has been 
tampered with in any way. Now, when it comes to the bor- 
ing of the hole, the medium knows how far down his hidden 
chisel comes, and starts the bit, allowing the committee to 
finish the operation of boring the hole. He calculates to 
have the hole bored just below the edge of his hidden chisel. 
The rope is now passed through this opening and knotted. 

There is no trickery about the tying and sealing of the 
medium; that is genuine enough. The trick consists (as 
usual) in the methods employed to protect the unsuspecting 
public against trickery ! The medium states that the nail 
is driven into the top of the post and the ropes passed about 
it, " to demonstrate that the post does not stir from its posi- 
tion, during the manifestations," but the real purpose of 
that manoeuvre, it will readily be seen, is to free the medium. 



170 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Thus: the nail strikes the flat iron head of the chisel, and 
forces that down farther into the post, and, as the rope is 
directly under the chisel, it is evident that the rope is cut 
by the knife-edge of the chisel, which passes through it. 
The rope is severed ; and the medium has only to remove his 
(now) freed hands to produce any manifestations he chooses. 
After the manifestations are concluded, he merely has to 
replace the two ends of the severed rope in the holes in the 
" spirit post," and the trick is accomplished. 

There is a very elaborate mechanical post used by some 
mediums, which is exceedingly ingenious. In this case the 
ropes are examined and passed through the hole in the post, 
which already exists. The medium's hands are then bound 
to the post, as in the last case. The manifestations follow 
as usual. 

The trick consists mainly in the post. It is hollow, and 
inside it is a sliding iron weight, square, through which is 
bored a hole corresponding to the holes in the post, when the 
weight is raised to the highest point, inside the hollow tube. 
A rope may thus be passed through the post, and the weight, 
and when this weight falls to the bottom of the post, it would 
carry with it the rope, there thus being a sort of loop made 
in the rope, and this is kept looped by the weight itself. 
There is a catch at the top of the post which prevents the 
weight from falling until the medium releases it by means 
of a spring. There is also a spring catch at the foot of the 
post, which keeps the weight securely in place, when once 
it has fallen to the bottom, and is released only by pressure 
upon a concealed spring. 

The method of working the trick should now be plain. 
The weight is drawn up to the top of the post and fastened 
there before the seance, and the cord is, of course, passed 
through it (the weight), when it is passed through the hole 
in the post. The medium now stands in front of the post 
for a moment, thus hiding it from the sitters, and at that 
moment he presses the catch that releases the weight, which 
falls to the bottom of the post, inside, carrying with it a cer- 
tain loop of the rope. This fact is concealed by the body 






Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 171 

of the medium, who stands in front of the post at that mo- 
ment, for that express purpose. The weight is caught and 
fastened by the catch at the foot of the post, thereby secur- 
ing the " slack " of the rope. The medium is now tied to 
the post and the knots sealed, etc. All the medium has to 
do, in order to effect his release, is to press upon the hidden 
spring, at the foot of the post, which allows the weight to 
be drawn up, inside, by a mere extension of the hands. The 
manifestations then take place. All he has to do in order to 
retie himself is to replace his hands in the loops, and allow 
the weight to sink to the bottom of the post, where it is 
caught and secured by the spring catch. An examination 
may now be made. 

Sleight-of-hand performers have devoted a great deal of 
time and trouble devising elaborate pieces of apparatus 
which would render the escape of the performer possible, in 
spite of the most elaborate tying and fastening and padlock- 
ing of the performer to the board or couch to which he is 
fastened. It may fairly be said that an escape from these 
positions is much more wonderful than any of the ordinary 
rope ties extant. In one of these illusions, the performer 
is fastened to a previously examined board by hinged, iron 
staples, these being padlocked down to the board and the 
keys kept by members of the committee. The board is now 
lifted, with the performer still upon it, and suspended at 
some distance from the floor by four chains, one of which 
is attached to each corner of the board. A curtain is now 
drawn around the board and performer for a few seconds, 
and, on being removed, the performer has vanished! The 
audience could see under the board throughout the entire 
performance, and the board is suspended in the centre of 
the stage. I cannot now go into a detailed explanation of 
this trick, as this would require considerable space and a 
number of illustrations to make it clear. It will be found 
described in full in Hopkins's Magic, Stage Illusions, etc., 
pp. 529-32. 

Another illusion of very much the same character was 
devised by Mr. Maskelyne, some years ago, which he called 



172 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

" The Spiritualistic Couch." The performer is, in this case, 
clamped down to a padded couch, which is raised from off 
the stage by three solid legs, enabling the audience to see 
under the couch during the manifestations. A short curtain 
is now passed around the couch, hiding the performer, but 
not reaching to the floor, and the medium's hands are passed 
through small openings in the curtains, where they can be 
observed by the audience during the entire manifestations. 
No one can possibly approach the couch, which is surrounded 
by members of the audience, and the medium obviously can- 
not perform the marvels himself, since his hands are in full 
view the entire time ! Manifestations take place, neverthe- 
less; and they are the result of trickery. The explanation 
will be found in Burlingame's Tricks in Magic, Vol. III., pp. 
11-14. 

A very effective escape is from what is known as " The 
Pillory." In this case the medium is handcuffed and fastened 
to the pillory by passing his hands and neck through holes 
in the hinged board, which is then secured by means of a 
padlock. The apparatus in this case is very ingenious and 
very complicated. An explanation will be found on pp. 59- 
61 of Shaw's New Ideas m Magic, etc. 

I have referred to these tests for the reason that the es- 
capes from these pieces of apparatus is so much more won- 
derful than the ordinary rope-tying experiments that the 
latter sink into comparative insignificance when compared 
with them. The only reply that can be made to this is that 
the above effects are performed with the aid of prepared 
apparatus, and on a stage, and the medium produces his 
results in the middle of an unprepared room, surrounded by 
skeptical investigators, and comes unprepared for the test. 
To this I reply that for the particular kinds of phenomena 
that occur, no stage or special apparatus is necessary ; it is 
just as easy to produce the phenomena there as in any other 
place; and as to the last statement, how do you know that 
the medium has come " all unprepared? " As a matter of 
fact, this is probably not the case at all ; but even if he had, 
the majority of mediumistic tricks require no prepara- 



Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 173 

tion at all, and so that objection is disposed of. The medium 
has selected precisely those tricks that are producible sub- 
ject to the conditions under which he must work. The re- 
sults are inevitable. 

I now pass on to consider " sack tests," i. e., those tests 
in which the medium is tied up in a sack, only his head pro- 
jecting, or, in some cases, that too being inside, and the 
mouth of the sack fastened with rope, tape, etc., the knots be- 
ing tied by members of the audience and the knots sealed by 
them also. The medium is placed, still in the sack, inside his 
cabinet, and the usual manifestations take place. These 
tests are most convincing ; and it is stated that one of these, 
the one I described on pp. 175-9, has converted as many 
persons to spiritualism as any one test extant! When we 
come to it, however, we shall see what a simple piece of 
trickery it is. 

One method of performing the sack test is the following: 
The medium is provided with two sacks exactly alike. One 
of these he conceals under his coat and trouser-leg, the 
mouth-end of the sack being upward. The second sack is 
brought forward and offered for examination. It is free 
from trickery, and is finally handed back to the medium 
with a statement to that effect. The medium then gets into 
this sack, which is then gathered up about him, and over 
his head. A " magnetized handkerchief " is tied around the 
neck of the sack, " to keep in the influences." The manager 
does this. The mouth of the sack is gathered together, tied 
up tightly with rope or string, fastened with several knots, 
and sealed. Just before the tying, however, a lady's hand- 
kerchief and a gentleman's pocket-knife are borrowed and 
dropped into the sack. The medium is now lifted into his 
cabinet, and, in a few moments, the usual manifestations 
begin. At the close of the seance the medium is found to 
have been miraculously released from the sack, which is still 
tied and sealed, however, and the articles previously bor- 
rowed are still inside the sack. A thorough examination 
may be made, the only effect of which is to heighten the 
mystery. 



174 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

When the medium gets into the sack, and it is pulled up 
about his head, the manager contrives to put his hands into 
the sack, and gets hold of the top of the duplicate sack 
(which the medium is wearing down his back, it must be 
remembered), and pulls this sack up above the mouth of the 
first sack, gathering it together, preparatory to tying. As 
the joining of the two sacks would be visible, were they left 
thus, the manager ties the " magnetized handkerchief " over 
the joining of the two sacks, thus effectually concealing it. 
The borrowed articles are dropped into the first sack, the 
one which passes down the medium's back, and it is this sack 
that is tied up and sealed. The medium is then placed in 
his cabinet. As soon as he is in it, and the door or curtain 
safely closed, the medium slips out of the one sack altogether, 
and pulls the sack out which is down his back. That sack 
is now ready for inspection, and is the one finally shown. 
All the medium has to do, now, is to conceal the second sack 
about his person, and produce whatever manifestations he 
desires. 

Another and much better sack test is the following. A 
sack is given for thorough examination, and may be marked, 
thus showing that there is no substitution. The medium 
then gets into the sack, which is gathered up over his head, 
and securely tied with rope, the ends being fastened in a 
number of knots, and securely sealed by the committee. The 
medium is then placed (still in the sack, of course) in his 
cabinet, and the usual manifestations ensue. At the conclu- 
sion of the seance, the medium steps out from behind the 
screen or cabinet, holding the sack in one hand, and the still 
knotted rope in the other. Both are again subjected to a 
thorough examination, without anything of a suspicious 
nature being discovered. 

There is no trickery about the sack or the rope, both of 
which are perfectly genuine; the trick lies in the tying of 
the sack. As, however, the committee does this, it seems im- 
possible that trickery could be employed, but it is, neverthe- 
less ! The principal factor in the medium's escape consists 
in a piece of apparatus which the committee never sees. 



Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 175 

This is a little plug or bolster made of cloth, and stuffed 
very tightly with a mixture of rags and straw, or some 
similar mixture that will " give " very little. When the 
mouth of the sack is being gathered together, the medium 
extracts this little bolster, previously hidden, and inserts it 
into the mouth of the sack, so that the loose folds of the sack 
are tied around this bolster, which is enclosed within them. 
The rope is now tied, sealed, etc. When the medium is 
placed in his cabinet, therefore, all he has to do is to catch 
hold of this bolster, and pull it forcibly into the sack, and he 
can now thrust his hand and arm through the hole thus left 
(the bolster is about the same size as the medium's wrist), 
and remove the rope en masse, without disturbing the seals, 
or even the coils. The way is now clear for the medium, 
who slips out of the sack, and the trick is done. I described 
a method of working this sack test, in Mahatma, Vol. III., 
No. 7, January, 1900. 

Magicians have invented a very clever sack test, in which 
the medium is fastened in a sack, the mouth of which is 
placed in a steel or brass band or collar, and this is fastened 
by means of a padlock, the key of which is in the hands of 
the committee. As, however, this test necessitates the em- 
ployment of a regular stage, and consequently partakes 
more of the nature of a conjuring trick than a mediumistic 
seance, I shall not describe it here. A full explanation, with 
diagrams, will be found in Mahatma, Vol. VI., Nos. 7 and 8, 
January and February, 1903. 

I come now to the sack test referred to on p. 173, and 
which is, in many respects, by far the cleverest of all. The 
effect will first of all be described, and then the explanation 
will be given, this course of procedure serving the double 
purpose of best describing the trick, and forming, per se, 
a miniature chapter in the psychology of deception. 

A large sack, about six feet high, is brought forward, 
and offered for examination. It is made of any light mate- 
rial, and a narrow hem runs around the mouth of the sack, 
through which runs a piece of tape. The tape may be exam- 
ined, and, in fact, it may be altogether taken out and re- 



176 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

placed by other tape, if the sitters so desire. Nothing pecul- 
iar is noted about the sack, with the exception of two small 
slits or openings, about two inches in length, which are 
buttonholed (worked), and to the existence of which the 
medium calls attention. They are used in securing the 
medium, as we shall presently see, and are not for any 
purposes of deception at all. The examination of the sack 
having been completed, the medium brings forward two 
pieces of tape, each about a yard long, and these are 
fastened around the medium's wrists, one around each, in the 
following manner. The tape is bound twice around the 
wrist, pulled tight, and secured by a series of knots, which 
may be sealed as much as desired. It would be quite im- 
possible for the medium to remove the tapes from his wrists 
without signs being left on the tape, if, indeed, they could 
be removed at all. The medium next gets into the sack, 
which is drawn up (gathered by means of the threaded tape) 
about his neck, his head being outside the sack. The sack 
is gathered together tightly, by means of the tape, so that 
not even a finger can be inserted between the mouth of the 
sack and the medium's neck. The ends of the tape are tied 
together, in a number of knots, and these are sealed by the 
committee. The medium now seats himself in a chair. It 
will be remembered that, when the sack was gathered about 
the neck, the tapes were not cut off, and there is conse- 
quently about two feet of tape left over, at each of the ends. 
These ends are passed about the bars at the back of the 
chair, two or three times, tied in several knots, and the knots 
sealed. So much for the fastening of the mouth of the 
sack. The medium's hands have yet to be secured ! 

We must not forget the tapes that have been tied around 
the medium's wrists. We now turn to these. The medium 
passes the two loose ends of the tape which have been tied 
around his right wrist through the afore-mentioned button- 
hole on the right side, and the two ends hanging from his 
left wrist through the buttonhole on his left side. The com- 
mittee catch hold of these tapes, and secure them by tying 
them about the back of the chair, and sealing the knots, as 



Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 177 

before. The medium's hands are then tied firmly to the back 
of the chair. If desired, the medium's legs and body may 
also be secured to the chair with ropes. Apparently, no 
tying could possibly be fairer or more secure, the operation 
having taken a considerable time, as a rule. The curtains of 
the cabinet are drawn and the room darkened. And now, 
notwithstanding all these test conditions, the usual mani- 
festations take place; hands and faces are seen, musical in- 
struments are played upon, and " full-form materializations " 
walk from the cabinet ! After the seance is finished, an exam- 
ination will show you that the medium's condition is the same 
as before the seance began. Not a tape or seal has been 
touched. Full forms have come from the cabinet, yet here 
is the medium tightly tied up in the sack. It is not possible 
that it was he ! 

This exceedingly clever test is worked as follows. The 
sack is perfectly free from preparation with the exception 
of one fact, which is apparently of such slight significance 
that most persons would examine the very spot itself, with- 
out seeing anything out of the way in it. It is this : the 
hem around the mouth of the bag contains two seams, one 
on each side, where the sack is sewn together. One of these 
seams is ripped open, on the inside of the sack, thus leaving 
a small opening, just large enough to enable the medium to 
insert his finger and reach the draw-string. As the seam on 
the other side is necessarily ripped open, on the outside, to 
enable the tape to be threaded through it, the open seam is 
not liable to arouse suspicion, even if it is noticed. It will 
probably be taken as a matter of course — a part of the con- 
struction of the bag. Some mediums, however, in order to 
obviate even this small risk, sew up this slit with cotton, in 
such a manner that, by catching hold of a large knot in the 
end of the thread, and pulling, the seam is immediately un- 
sewn. That is all the trickery there is about the bag. 

In the tying of the medium's hands there is no trickery at 
all, they being secured in a genuine and thorough manner. 
All the trickery takes place after the medium is placed in 



178 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the sack. The method of procedure I must now explain a 
little more in detail. 

As soon as the medium is placed in the sack, and it is 
being gathered up about him, he places his hands on the 
mouth of the sack and assists the committeemen in pulling 
it up about him ; the most natural thing in the world. What 
he really does, however, is to catch hold of the hem of the 
sack just over the seam, which is now in his hand, and he sur- 
reptitiously introduces the first finger of his right hand into 
this open seam and catches hold of the tape which runs 
round the mouth of the sack {v. Fig. XIV., p. 164). If the 
thread is there, it may easily be broken. In any case, the 
medium gets possession of the tape. Now, as the tape is be- 
ing gathered together from the outside, by the committee, 
the medium pulls down a certain amount of slack of the tape 
inside the sack, and fastens it under a hook or button in his 
clothes, to prevent it slipping, as he will presently have use 
for his hands. It is obvious, now, that, when the medium 
releases this slack, the mouth of the sack can be pulled open 
sufficiently to allow the medium to escape therefrom, if he 
were not fastened in any other manner. The first part of 
the test is explained, at least. 

When it comes to tying the hands, the medium resorts to 
a very simple device. He passes a duplicate set of tapes 
through the holes in the sack, and these are the tapes that 
are so carefully tied and sealed to the chair! The ends of 
these tapes, on the inside of the sack, are simply fastened 
around pieces of wood, this serving the double purpose of 
rendering the tapes more easily found and handled, and pre- 
venting them from being drawn through the holes alto- 
gether, which would expose the trick instantly. The me- 
dium's hands are, of course, free all the time, being merely 
impeded by the two pieces of tape tied around the wrists. 

Before the medium is released from the sack, however, he 
takes occasion to cut off several inches of the tapes around 
his wrists, for otherwise these tapes would be much longer 
than they would be if the tapes had really been passed 
through the openings in the sack, for it must be remembered 



Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 179 

that the tapes must be cut to enable the medium to emerge 
from the sack. There are several other minor precautions to 
be taken, but it is unnecessary to detail them here, as they 
will readily be discovered by any one performing the trick. 
Why the ropes do not in any way interfere with the mani- 
festations is explained on p. 145. 

Of late years, various mediums and magicians have de- 
vised methods of escaping from handcuffs of all kinds, one 
performer (Harry Houdini) having earned a tremendous 
reputation by his sensational escapes from handcuffs of 
every make and description, and by escaping from the cells 
of various prisons. Many persons who have witnessed the 
performance of Harry Houdini have doubtless thought that 
all those who went upon the stage were confederates, and 
only took up to the stage the special handcuffs of which the 
performer had duplicate keys. Were that the case, it would 
be a feeble trick indeed, and I may as well state, just here, 
that the handcuffs brought upon the stage, in Harry 
Houdini's act, are perfectly genuine, and the persons bring- 
ing them, most probably, unknown to the performer. But, 
if that is the case, how are the handcuffs opened? That is 
the question we are now about to consider. 

I must begin by stating that I do not know the exact 
modus operandi of all Houdini's handcuff acts. He doubt- 
less employs very much the methods described below, but I 
may frankly state that I am unable to explain his whole 
" act " in detail. However, it is hardly necessary to do 
so, since a general idea of the usual methods employed is all 
that is required in a book of this character. 

There are many trick-handcuffs made, which the per- 
former can employ in case no members of the audience 
come forward with handcuffs of their own. The cuffs may 
be " faked " in various ways, and the performer may be pro- 
vided with keys that fit the locks. One make of such trick- 
handcuffs I described in Mahatma, Vol. III., No. IV., Octo- 
ber, 1899. I quote the explanation, as it stands, asking my 
readers to bear in mind that it was written for a magazine 



180 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

devoted to the interests of professional conjurers and is 
couched in the usual style of that magazine. 

" The performer brings forward a pair of handcuffs, and 
allows any one in the audience to examine them. A gentle- 
man is then selected to come upon the platform, and fasten 
the magician's or ' medium's ' hands together, by means of 
the handcuffs. The cuffs are clasped round the wrists, and 
the juncture sealed with strips of sticking-plaster (marked, 
if desired) and sealing-wax. The cuffs are attached to 
his hands with tape, and the knots sealed. The keyhole of 
the loch is also sealed. If desired, the handcuffs can be fast- 
ened to the hand itself by strips of sticking-plaster, but this 
is rather unpleasant for the performer. He is now placed 
in the cabinet, when the usual manifestations take place. 

" The explanation of this feat is, as usual, simplicity it- 
self. The trick relies to a great extent on the ' bluff ' of 
the performer, and drawing the attention of the audience 
to the cuffs and lock, when, in reality, the trick is in the 
chain, and this accounts for profuse sealing, etc., going on 
around the wrists, the point where one would naturally ex- 
pect trickery. The links are all solid, with one exception, 
which is made after the style of the familiar key-ring, i. e., 
the ring with two openings opposite each other, and the ring 
split round its outer circumference, so that the next link 
will have to make a complete circle between these two halves 
to enter the ring {v. Fig. XV., p. 164). The opening is on 
the inner side of the link, so that the next one effectually 
covers the small slit when in place, and unless specially lifted. 
As a further safeguard against detection, all the other links 
have a tiny groove cut in them, running around their cir- 
cumference, both outside and inside. 

" The handcuffs may be offered for examination, but 
special attention is called to the lock, sealing the keyhole, 
etc. ; moreover, the faked link is exceedingly hard to open, 
and when the performer requires to do so, he uses a small 
iron wedge, for the purpose of opening the slit in the link. 
This once effected, it is an easy matter to slip the link on 
and off. The rest we leave to the reader." 



Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 181 

In this test the medium does not actually release himself 
from the handcuffs, it will be noticed. All that happens is 
that certain manifestations take place, when the medium's 
hands are securely handcuffed behind his back. If the cuffs 
are actually unfastened, other measures are employed; and, 
since the cuffs are frequently unlocked, at the conclusion of 
the seance, and indeed often found to be interlocked, one in 
the other, it is obvious that the medium has actually opened 
the handcuffs in some manner, and has not merely slipped 
out of them. How they are unlocked is the mystery. 

Several speculations were advanced as to the manner of 
this release, in Mahatma, Vol. V., Nos. 11 and 12, and Vol. 
VI., No. 1 (May, June, and July, 1902). It was stated that 
a sharp blow, if delivered in precisely the right place, would 
unfasten the lock if it were weak and of the " spring " vari- 
ety. A straight piece of metal was found sufficient to un- 
lock several regulation irons. But for the vast majority, 
keys were doubtless required, and it simply became a matter 
of finding the right key for each make of lock, and unfasten- 
ing the irons with it. 

This would appear to the average person an unending 
task, if not a perfectly hopeless one. Such, however, is by 
no means the case. There are only a few makes of hand- 
cuffs, and it is an easy matter to produce keys that will fit 
the majority of locks brought forward. The principal keys 
are the Beau Giant, Beau No. 2, Sing Sing, Bryns, Scotland 
Yard, Trenton Nos. 1 and 2, Harper, Tower, and Little De- 
tective. The complete set, however, consists of forty-five 
different keys, and the performer who wishes to succeed 
every time will provide himself with the entire set. They 
may be bought from certain establishments for about $15. 
With these it will be possible to open almost any lock that 
may be brought upon the stage, though it must be remem- 
bered that the mere possession of the keys is only a part of 
the trick (I had almost said the smallest part), the principal 
factor being the ability to recognize, almost immediately 
the cuffs are taken in the hands, the key to try, in unlocking 
them, for it is obvious that the audience cannot be kept 



182 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

waiting until the performer has tried all forty-five keys on 
every one of the locks; the ability to conceal the keys, in 
spite of the searching which is sometimes insisted upon ; the 
ability to manipulate the keys and locks after the cuffs are 
on the wrists ; the capacity for averting defeat ; above all 
the manner in which the trick is presented, all these factors 
and many more figure in the presentation of the trick. But 
I cannot go into the detail of working the cuffs now. I 
shall merely mention a few methods of concealing the keys, 
and of reaching and using them, since these facts are of 
general interest in the investigation of spiritualistic phe- 
nomena. 

Of course, if no searching is to be done, the performer's 
task is an easy one. His clothes will afford ample oppor- 
tunity for the concealment of all the keys required. If the 
medium is to be searched, he ties up all the keys in a strip 
of flannel, they being all arranged in order, somewhat after 
the manner of the familiar pocket-toilet outfits, each key 
being inserted into its own proper pocket, in the flannel strip. 
Knowing their order, the medium can procure any one he 
pleases in the dark. This strip can be rolled up quite small, 
and concealed either about the medium's person, after the 
methods described on pp. 249-51, or hidden in the cabinet, 
or in some chair or other article of furniture which the per- 
former can reach from the cabinet. The keys may also be 
concealed in the drapery, etc. But, in many cases, even this 
is not possible. Harry Houdini has been stripped entirely 
nude and searched by the police, in some of his " tests," and 
yet succeeded in escaping from the various handcuffs, man- 
acles, etc., placed upon him, in that condition ! I am unable 
to say exactly how he accomplished this: but I am inclined 
to think that he has some special make of skeleton-key which 
fits a number of different makes of locks, and that he con- 
ceals this key in his mouth or in his hair. I am not sure, 
however, that this is the true explanation. I merely offer it 
by way of suggestion. 

In the securing and manipulation of the keys consists the 
real " hard work " of the trick. The teeth are very fre- 



Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 183 

quently used in inserting the key, and in turning it, when 
once inserted. Or the key may be pushed into a crack in 
the cabinet, and the cuffs opened by pressing them on to it, 
and turning the hands and cuffs about the key. Again, the 
key may be held between the knees, or a loop of catgut may 
be passed under the foot, and around one end of the key, 
and by pulling on the cord the key may be forced around, 
and the cuffs opened. (It must be remembered that the 
majority of handcuff -keys have a handle like a corkscrew, 
and are not like regular keys). One of the simplest methods 
of obtaining the key, however, is to have it fastened to one 
corner of a handkerchief, the other end of which projects 
slightly from the pocket, and is reachable by either the 
fingers or the teeth. 

But we have considered handcuffs at sufficient length, and 
I now pass on to a consideration of the various other ties and 
methods of securing the medium, being very brief, however, 
as these are rarely or never seen offered as mediumistic feats 
nowadays, being almost entirely limited to the stage. It 
must be remembered that all these tests have been offered 
as genuine spiritualistic phenomena, however, at one time or 
another. For that reason, a brief mention of them becomes 
necessary. 

One such piece of apparatus is known as the " spirit 
collar." It consists of a steel or brass collar, which passes 
around the medium's neck, and is secured to a post by means 
of a chain and padlock. The committee do the locking, and 
keep the key in their possession. The trick is in the collar, 
one of the bolts of which is made to unscrew, the collar 
coming apart at the hinges. This bolt is screwed down very 
tightly, so that the collar may be examined without fear of 
detection. The medium uses a small wrench to unscrew the 
bolt. 

Various bolts or staples are in use, these being fastened to 
a board, and the medium tied to them with ropes, etc. It is 
only necessary to give the bolt a twist to the right, when it 
comes apart, and the medium is free to produce the usual 
manifestations. At their conclusion, he replaces the half of 



184 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the bolt attached to his wrist, gives it a half-turn to the 
left, and he is ready for any amount of examination. 

Trick-cabinets are often employed; one of these, a very 
ingenious affair, enables the medium to be locked within, 
and the cabinet to be entirely covered with a closely woven 
net, and yet the usual manifestations take place! The trick 
consists in the fact that the bottom of the cabinet comes out, 
and, as the wire netting is tacked to the bottom of the cabinet 
all the way round on the outside, it is obvious that the net- 
ting would in no wise hinder this. Various other cabinets, 
trunks, etc., have been invented, enabling the performer to 
escape therefrom in a remarkably short space of time, while 
the trunk or cabinet may be examined as minutely as desired 
both before and after the test, without fear of its secret 
being discovered. 

Some mediums have also employed a specially constructed 
wire cage, in which they are fastened, this cage being sub- 
jected to the most minute examination desired. There are 
several makes of cages in use, the one principally employed 
enabling the medium to escape through an opening made by 
unscrewing three or more of the bars on one side of the 
cage. 

Tests of the above nature always appeared to the writer 
to be so obviously conjuring tricks that he found it hard to 
conceive the view-point of one who found them anything else. 
The elaborate precautions would inevitably suggest trickery 
to any one who is at all familiar with the methods adopted 
by conjurers in order to achieve their results. The fact that 
no trickery is found, upon examination of the cabinet, cage, 
etc., does not prove that none exists — far from it. If the 
trick were so easily discoverable it would be very soon found 
out, and the medium discredited. The more elaborate the 
precautions, the more probable is it that fraud is practised. 

This brings me to a final reflection. Instead of binding 
the medium with ropes, tapes, etc., and sealing them so pro- 
fusely, suggest that the medium employ, instead, a simple 
piece of white thread, and see how quickly your offer is re- 
jected! The medium knows that a simple tie of that descrip- 



Spirit Posts, Sacks, Handcuffs, etc. 185 

tion would be the hardest of all to escape from, without 
leaving signs of his having tampered with the threads, and 
would undoubtedly reject any such proposal. "A word to 
the wise ! " 



CHAPTER IX 



Besides the many rope-ties, etc., described on pp. 143- 
85, there are numerous methods that have been devised for 
controlling the medium, and it need hardly be said that that 
person has found a way of escaping from every one of 
them without detection! Many investigators were not con- 
tent with tying the medium in his cabinet, or fastening and 
padlocking him to his chair ; they felt, very naturally, that, 
however conclusive such tests might appear to be, it would 
be far more conclusive to actually hold the medium with 
their own hands, while the manifestations were taking place, 
and accordingly demanded that these conditions be complied 
with: that the medium permit himself to be actually held 
by one or more of the sitters, during the course of the mani- 
festations, and the medium, " to save his face," had to con- 
sent. Of course, as soon as these tests came into general 
use, the medium set to work to devise means of escaping 
from these holds, so that he might, in reality, produce the 
manifestations himself, as before, but still give to the sitter 
in control of his person the impression that he was still hold- 
ing the medium securely. The means adopted were many 
and ingenious. I give the principal methods herewith, 
though it must always be borne in mind that, in tests of this 
character, " there are as many ways of escaping as there 
are mediums," each medium preferring one or more methods 
perfected by himself. The sketch given below can, there- 
fore, only be general. 

In the first place, it must be stated that the medium never 

186 



Holding Tests" 187 



i tt 



allows himself to be placed absolutely under control, i. e., 
held in various places, by several sitters, at the same time, 
as an escape from such control would be an obvious impos- 
sibility. He may state that such a handling of his person, 
during the manifestations, would entirely " upset the condi- 
tions," as indeed it might if the phenomena were ever gen- 
uine (v. pp. 334-5). Certain "conditions" must be com- 
plied with, and one of these is that the body of the medium 
should not be placed under too close a supervision, but 
should have a certain amount of freedom and space round 
about it, which would be impossible if persons were directly 
in contact with the medium's body. He offers, however, to 
let the sitters hold his hands and feet, and even his head, 
during the manifestations ; and, as they can only be pro- 
duced, one would think, by the agency of the medium's limbs, 
this amount of control has always been considered satis- 
factory. That it is not so can readily be seen. All that is 
required, in the vast majority of cases, in order to produce 
the manifestations, is the free use of the medium's right 
hand: if he can succeed in releasing that, the rest will be 
an easy task, and it does not matter how closely his feet, 
and head, and remaining hand are held. The methods of 
release I shall describe later. For the present it is neces- 
sary to state that in the rarest cases only has this complete 
control of the medium's body been practised, the vast ma- 
jority of "holding tests" only controlling the medium's 
hands; and I shall accordingly describe these simpler con- 
trol tests and the methods of release therefrom first, working 
up, gradually, to the more complicated holds, where a 
greater part of the medium's body is under careful observa- 
tion. I begin by describing a simple device often employed 
in " test circles," and explain the means employed by the 
medium to release himself from the control of his right and 
left-hand neighbors. 

In this test, the medium and sitters form a circle around 
the table, all joining hands by placing their extended fingers 
in contact with those of their right and left-hand neighbors ; 
i. e., each member of the circle places his or her two hands 



188 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

on the table, palm side down, and crosses his own thumbs. 
The extended little fingers of each hand are in contact with 
the little fingers of the sitters to the right and left hand, 
either holding or held by these sitters (v. Fig. XVI., p. 188). 
A complete circle is thus formed, in which there is no break. 
If the medium attempts to remove his finger, it will, appar- 
ently, be felt by the person holding that finger, or held by it. 
Thus trickery is impossible! 

The medium frees his hand (say the right) in the follow- 
ing manner. Soon after the lights are turned out (for of 
course all these tests take place in the dark, unless otherwise 
stated), the medium is seized with a series of violent 
" twitches," or " spasms," which convulse his body. He is 
getting under control! The real object of these twitches, 
however, is to bring the medium's hands nearer together, 
until they are almost superimposed, the one over the other. 
Then, with an extra strong spasm, the medium jerks his 
hand away altogether, and it is free. This removal of the 
finger is felt, of course, b} r the right-hand sitter, and he 
would remark upon the fact were it not that he feels the 
finger again under his own the instant it is withdrawn. Only 
for the merest fraction of/a second has he lost control of it; 
and now he feels it securely held again. No more twitchings 
follow until the medium comes out of the trance, when con- 
trol is again lost for a brief moment. When the lights are 
again turned up, the medium is found to be securely held 
as at first, while the manifestations have taken place as 
usual. 

As the acute reader will doubtless have guessed, the trick 
consists in substituting the first finger of the outstretched 
left hand the moment the right hand is withdrawn, and it 
is this finger that the sitter so carefully guards for the re- 
mainder of the seance (v. Fig. XVII., p. 188). It is really 
amusing. The right hand is free to produce any manifesta- 
tions it pleases, and when the seance is ready to close, the 
medium is again " controlled," and the left finger is with- 
drawn with a jerk, and the little finger of the right substi- 
tuted. The trick is now done. 






" Holding Tests " 189 

Another plan, and a very satisfactory one, is the follow- 
ing, in which the sitter's two hands are held by the two hands 
of the medium, while the manifestations take place. Medium 
and sitter sit opposite one another, with their knees touch- 
ing. The sitter now places his two hands on his knees, 
palms downward, and they are covered by the two hands of 
the medium. If he should remove either hand it is to be 
supposed that the sitter would know it, and expose him. 
The deception lies in the fact that the sitter does not get 
both the medium's hands on his, but has only one, turned 
so as to lie across both. 

The medium accomplishes this, without detection, in the 
following manner. He makes a series of downward passes 
from the sitter's shoulders to his hands for some considerable 
time. At the end of this period of stroking (which, the me- 
dium asserts, is to induce " magnetic " currents ) , the medium 
turns his left hand so that it will cover both the sitter's 
hands, and allows it to rest lightly on them. The sitter now 
thinks that he has both hands, and will so state on being 
questioned. This is a test condition that gives general satis- 
faction, for no one is supposed to be so stupid that he cannot 
tell when a weight is removed from his hand. Yet he is ! 

A very clever release is the following. The medium seats 
himself in a chair, and places his two hands on his own 
knees, as the sitter did in the last test described. An investi- 
gator sits on either side of him. The sitter who is on the 
medium's right-hand side grasps his right wrist, while the 
medium himself grasps the left-hand sitter's wrist (v. Fig. 
XVIII., p. 190). This forms a circle, in which the medium 
is holding one sitter, with one of his own hands, and being 
held by another, on the other side, so that that hand cannot 
possibly be used to produce the manifestations, which ensue, 
nevertheless. This is a most convincing test, when well man- 
aged. 

In order to release one hand (let us say the right) the 
medium resorts to the following device. Just after the light 
is turned out, the medium requests the right to remove his 
hand for a moment, in order to use his handkerchief. As 



190 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

soon as he has done so, he apparently replaces his hand 
under the control of his right-hand sitter, but what he does 
in reality is this. He slips forward both his feet and 
crosses his knees, the left knee being on top. Then, when 
he requests his right-hand sitter to again catch hold of his 
wrist, he simply allows him to catch hold of his left wrist, 
the same one which is holding the wrist of his left-hand neigh- 
bor. His right hand is now free (v. Fig. XIX., p. 190). 
The left-hand neighbor cannot tell that the hand has moved, 
as indeed it has not. The right-hand sitter cannot tell that 
any change has taken place in the position of the hands, as he 
grasps a wrist, which the medium tells him is his right wrist, 
and he believes him. As there is only one knee, the trick 
cannot be discovered by either sitter feeling the other knee, 
and thus inferring that the medium had removed one hand. 

A test sometimes employed is the following, which is given 
when the " magnetic conditions " do not permit actual con- 
tact with the medium during the manifestations; the real 
reason is that the medium desires the free use of both hands, 
probably. The medium undertakes to clap his two hands 
together, throughout the manifestations, thus showing that 
they have no part in their production. The trick consists 
in clapping one hand against the cheek or forehead while 
the other hand is busily engaged producing " phenomena." 

Some sitters will tell you that manifestations took place 
in their presence when they knew that they held both the 
sitter's hands, they being grasped by separate hands, and 
held wide apart throughout the manifestations. This may 
very well be the case, and the methods were purely fraudu- 
lent, nevertheless ! In order to produce a certain class of 
manifestations, when the hands are held in this manner, the 
medium provides himself with a long feather; this he con- 
ceals under his coat, in such a way that the quill-end will be 
readily accessible to his mouth. The hands are under con- 
trol, and the sitter's eyes are bandaged, as this is one of 
the manifestations that may be produced in the light, — pro- 
vided the sitter is blindfolded. Of course other sitters must 
not be present. At the end of a certain time (the waiting 




Fig. 18 



n 



t 




Fig. 19 



"Holding Tests" 191 

is for effect), the medium grasps the feather in his teeth 
and, with it, caresses the sitter's head and face, the touches 
feeling like touches from tiny, soft fingers. This test is very 
convincing. 

Another clever test may now be given to the same sitter, 
while the bandages are still on. Request your sitter to place 
both his hands upon your head. You now encircle his two 
arms with your left arm, and press heavily upon his left arm 
with the extended thumb and little finger of the left hand, 
saying, at the same time, " You feel both my hands upon 
your left arm? Keep close watch of me, that I do not take 
away either of them ! " You will at once be able to remove 
your right hand, and produce any manifestations desired. 

When there is a large circle of sitters, the medium may 
occasionally permit himself to be held as securely as the 
skeptic may desire, in such a way that escape or movement 
would be absolutely impossible, and this, while the unbroken 
chain of sitters extends round the table. In this case, the 
medium has present three confederates, who sit together. 
The two sitting on the right and left hand of the central 
confederate simply release their hold on his hands, and he 
is free to wander about the room as much as desired, and 
produce the most extraordinary manifestations. Once in 
awhile, the medium may employ this artifice to silence all 
doubting voices, allowing the most skeptical, on such occa- 
sions, to hold him. Needless to say these seances must be 
held in the dark. 

There is a dodge sometimes employed by mediums to re- 
lease the feet; or at least one foot. The medium and sitter 
sit at a table, opposite one another, and the medium requests 
the sitter to place his two feet on his (the medium's), and 
control them in that manner. The medium has, over the 
toes of his shoes, steel caps, made to fit exactly over the 
shoe, and blacked to match them. When the sitter places 
his feet on the toes of the medium, the latter has merely to 
withdraw his own feet, leaving the " caps " under the con- 
trol of the sitter, and produce the manifestations desired. 

When the medium undertakes to control the sitter's feet 



192 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

instead, he simply places one foot across both the sitter's 
feet, as in the above experiment with the hands, this being 
very much easier, for the reason that the leather on the 
shoes would effectually prevent any nicety of feeling, and 
render the substitution an easy matter. 

The method of releasing the hands employed by Eusapia 
Paladino, and exposed by Doctor Hodgson, at the famous 
" Cambridge Sittings " (pp. 12-13), was simply a variation 
of the test given on p. 190. The medium held one sitter's 
hand, and was held by the other sitter, on the other side. 
She merely withdrew one hand altogether, leaving her right- 
hand sitter in charge of the same hand that was holding her 
left-hand sitter's fingers. It was a clever piece of substitu- 
tion. But the Paladino case I have discussed at some length 
on pp. 11-14. 

Magicians have invented a very clever little piece of ap- 
paratus which enables the performer to produce manifesta- 
tions while both his hands are in full view of the audience. 
A small table is brought forward, on which is placed a bell, 
tambourine, horn, slate, and the usual paraphernalia used 
in such tests. The medium, or performer, then shows a 
very large handkerchief, about a yard square, which may be 
examined. This he holds in front of the table, in full view 
of the sitters, and in the light, by its two upper corners, his 
two hands thus being visible. His head and legs are, of 
course, also visible. The manifestations ensue nevertheless, 
— bells ring, the tambourine is thumped, raps, in answer to 
questions are given, a message is found written on the slate, 
etc., and, most convincing of all, the horn toots ! 

The trick consists in the use of a simple piece of appara- 
tus of which the audience knows nothing. It is a jointed 
steel rod, folding up to a couple of inches, or opening out 
to a yard or more, as may be desired. To one end of this rod 
is fastened a dummy wax hand (only the knuckles, they being 
all that would be visible in any case). This the medium has 
secreted about his person and only produces it under cover 
of the handkerchief. Holding one end of the rod in his left 
hand, he pulls out the rod to its fullest extent, the other end 



" Holding Tests " 193 

of the handkerchief being secured to it by means of a bent 
pin. When extended, this rod will now keep the handker- 
chief taut, and the wax dummy will exactly resemble the 
back of the medium's right hand, which is, of course, free 
to produce the manifestations — ring the bell, rap, bang the 
tambourine, write the message on the slate, etc. 

The only thing to be explained is the manner in which the 
horn is " tooted." As the medium's mouth is all the time 
visible, that would seem impossible to accomplish by trickery. 
And so it would be! The horn may be tooted in either one 
of two ways: either the performer's assistant toots another 
horn behind the scenes, the performer depending on the illu- 
sion of sound to pull him through ; or the horn is connected 
to a rubber tube, which passes through the hollow table-leg, 
and a hole in the stage, into the mouth of an assistant below 
(v. p. 201). 

It remains for me to describe the holding test made famous 
by the Eddy brothers, and which has doubtless deceived as 
many persons as any single test in the whole range of 
spiritualistic phenomena. They converted many persons to 
the belief, and they are two of the most important figures 
in the history of American spiritualism. For this reason it 
will be necessary for me to consider and describe their seance 
somewhat in detail. 

The Eddy brothers' sittings were always held in the light, 
this being the convincing part to most persons, nor were 
the sitters blindfolded or otherwise hampered; they were 
free to make use of whatever powers of observation they 
possessed. The " cabinet " was erected in the corner of the 
room in the following manner. A curtain was pinned or 
otherwise fastened against the wall of the room, in the angle, 
this curtain containing several slits sufficiently long to enable 
a hand and arm to be thrust through them. Sometimes, how- 
ever, this curtain was dispensed with, as the manifestations 
could be produced just as well without it. I shall accord- 
ingly describe a seance where the curtain is not used. The 
arrangements were simple. Three chairs were placed in the 
corner of the room, side by side, two investigators and the 



194 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

medium sitting on them. The medium does not occupy the 
middle seat, however, as one might suppose, but the one to 
the left of the sitters in the cabinet, and to the right of the 
onlookers. The medium on the one side and the second sitter 
on the other now grasp the middle sitter's arms with their 
two hands, the right and left hand each taking a firm hold 
on the sitter's arm at different points, so that if either hand 
were removed, by either his right or his left hand neighbor, 
he would feel it instantly, and give the alarm. He is even 
requested to do this. A curtain is now pinned across the 
three sitters, being fastened to each of their breasts by 
means of pins, and attached just below the neck. This pre- 
vents the audience from seeing the medium or sitters in the 
cabinet from the neck down, though their heads are still vis- 
ible. In the cabinet has previously been placed a table, 
on which is a bell, horn, tambourine, slate, etc. This is all 
the preparations that are required, and, as they are so simple, 
the spectators think that no trickery can be possible under 
such circumstances. Of course the manifestations take place 
as usual. 

It will be seen that all the manifestations could be easily 
explained, if only the medium had the free use of his right 
hand, as all the instruments on the table would be within his 
reach, to manipulate as he pleased, if only that hand were 
free. The means employed to free that hand were many and 
varied. Sometimes the medium would merely extend the first 
and second fingers of his left hand, and, by degrees, trans- 
fer the pressure from the right to the left hand fingers. In 
this manner the right hand could be gradually released. 
This manoeuvre, however, is always a risky one, and one lia- 
ble to detection ; and, as the sitter chosen for the middle 
seat is usually one of the skeptical, this device is rarely 
relied upon, but another and surer plan followed. 

The medium has, concealed in his right hand, a piece of 
sheet lead about two inches square. This he has palmed. 
Now, when he places his right hand over the arm of the 
sitter, he simply bends this piece of lead round the arm of 
his victim, and he is then free to remove his hand at any 



" Holding Tests " 195 

time without fear of detection. The sitter cannot see what 
goes on inside the cabinet, owing to the arrangement of the 
curtain, and the weight of the lead gives him the impression 
that the medium's hand is still holding his arm. The illu- 
sion is almost perfect. 

Almost! In order to render the illusion quite perfect, 
however, a further improvement was made. A spring clasp 
was used, to each end of which was soldered a portion of a 
hand, the thumb on one end and the four fingers on the 
other. These were made of rubber, and, when the spring 
clip was opened, and the fingers and thumb clasped on oppo- 
site sides of the arm, the illusion was perfect. 

And that is the whole secret of the marvellous Eddy 
brothers' performance, or " seance ! " The whole trick is so 
absurdly simple that it seems incredible that intelligent 
people should have been deceived by it for an instant. The 
medium produces whatever manifestations he desires; rings 
bells, etc., and shows his own hands or stuffed gloves on the 
end of his telescopic rod, as described on p. 196. If, by any 
chance, the table has been placed beyond the medium's reach, 
he can, nevertheless, obtain possession of any of the articles 
thereon by the same means — the telescopic rod. The 
methods of producing several hands of different sizes at the 
same moment (which many persons who attended the Eddy 
brothers' seances will doubtless state they saw, and rightly) 
are described on p. £48. 



CHAPTER X 

MISCELLANEOUS PHYSICAL TESTS 

We must now pass on to consider certain " physical tests " 
pure and simple, meaning by this, those tests in which cer- 
tain intelligent phenomena take place, not discussed in the 
chapters on table-turning, raps, etc., and consisting chiefly 
in the playing of musical instruments, under conditions 
which render it impossible (apparently) for the medium to 
play the instruments or produce the witnessed phenomena 
himself. 

Before proceeding to do so, however, I must describe a 
little piece of apparatus in very general use among mediums, 
and one that may be used for many purposes. It is a little 
rod made of steel, which slides or " telescopes " together, 
forming either a long, slender rod when folded up, looking 
very like a slate-pencil (indeed, it may be disguised as 
v such), or into a thicker and more compact mass about two 
inches in length. Both of these rods, when opened out, 
measure about three feet. The rod is hollow (which fact is 
taken advantage of in such tests as that described on p. 
248), and is provided with a hook at its small or distant 
end, this being used to lift the musical instruments, convey 
them from one place to another, etc. 

Instead of this telescopic rod, some mediums employ a 
little instrument known as the " lazy tongs." These are 
made of steel, and are a number of rods, pivoted together 
in the middle, so as to form a series of X's, — two corners 
of which are fastened to two corners of the X's next to them, 
so that the entire apparatus may shut up into a very small 

196 



Miscellaneous Physical Tests 197 

space, or may be extended over a very large one. The two 
end arms have, attached to them, a sort of grip or clasp, 
which will hold any piece of apparatus it closes upon, when 
the tongs are extended their full length. 

These rods may be used for a variety of purposes, one of 
the most obvious being the securing of objects beyond the 
medium's reach, and the displaying of these articles in places 
where the medium, tied as he is, could not possibly be. The 
use of this little instrument in displaying " materialized 
hands," etc., will be dealt with on pp. 245-8. Another 
very obvious use to which the rod may be put is to produce 
writing on the ceiling, etc., when the medium is " levitated," 
supposedly (v. p. 383). This is a very old trick, and one 
now well known. 

One use to which this rod may be put is the floating of a 
guitar or other musical instrument about the room, over the 
sitters' heads, in a dark seance. A guitar is frequently used 
for tests of this character, and, when this is the case, the 
guitar has, bored in its neck, a small hole, just large enough 
to admit the end of the above-mentioned rod, when extended. 
Inside the guitar, which is specially constructed, is a small 
music-box, which may be wound up, and set in motion by 
merely releasing a catch spring. When the seance is in full 
swing, the medium gains possession of this guitar, inserts 
the rod into the hole in the neck of the instrument, sets the 
machinery going, and waves the guitar about over the sitters' 
heads, when they will have presented to them the strange 
phenomenon of a guitar floating in the air, and performing 
a tune upon itself ! It does not sound exactly as though the 
music were produced on the strings ; but it is near enough 
for the illusion to pass, under the circumstances. At any 
rate, the music has never been challenged, to my knowledge. 

The guitar I have just described may be used for a vari- 
ety of purposes, and I shall mention it again in the chapter 
on " materialization." 

The author of The Revelations of a Spirit Medium de- 
scribes the following very ingenious test, in which the me- 
dium gets possession of, and plays upon a guitar, when both 



198 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

his hands are held by different persons, and where his hand- 
ling of the instrument is consequently out of the question. 
It is this : 

" Place in your dining-room an oval table, and on it 
place a guitar, tea-bell, and a tambourine from which the 
head has been cut. In your top vest pocket place a long 
lead-pencil. Now, seat your sitters around the table, and 
have them clasp each the other's hands, including your own. 
Seat yourself so that the end of the neck of the guitar is 
lying toward you and quite close to the edge of the table. 
Have the tambourine close to your edge of the table, while 
the bell can be placed anywhere. Make the room perfectly 
dark, and begin operations by catching the edge of the tam- 
bourine frame in your teeth, and by leaning well back, put it 
over your head. It will settle down around your neck. Now 
draw the neck of the guitar out over the edge of the table 
and, by leaning forward, the tambourine about your neck will 
hang down so as to allow you to get the neck of the guitar 
through it a few inches. On straightening up, you will find 
that the guitar will bind against the ring and your chest so 
that it will rise from the table. It lay on its back on the table 
and the strings must be on the side toward you. Now take 
the pencil between your teeth and proceed to ' thrum ' the 
guitar. By moving it about, your sitters will think it is 
moving around the room. In order to disguise your move- 
ments, in causing the manifestations, you will find the jump- 
ing and jerking tactics of all mediums to quite effectually 
fill the bill" (pp. 318-14). 

There are various music-boxes, too, which play or stop 
at the performer's command, and some of these have been 
imported into the seance-room, and the effects attributed to 
spirit agency! Doctor Monck had a music-box of the char- 
acter described below, and it greatly enhanced his reputation 
until his exposure, when the whole affair, — the method of 
working the trick, — was brought to light. I shall first of 
all describe a music-box, devised by Mr. Maskelyne, of Lon- 
don. In this case, the music-box is shown and suspended in 
the middle of the room by placing it on a plate glass shelf, 



Miscellaneous Physical Tests 199 

which is itself suspended by four chains or ribbons, one from 
each corner. The music-box plays or stops at command. 
The secret lies chiefly in the construction of the box. A 
light shaft, delicately pivoted, is arranged so as to just in- 
terfere with the fly-wheel, when the box is resting on any 
flat surface. When, however, the box is tilted slightly for- 
ward or backward, this shaft is displaced, and the fly-wheel 
is free, thus starting the music. The chains that support 
the plate glass, on which the box rests, are under the con- 
trol of an assistant, and he can accordingly raise or lower 
the rear end of the glass by raising or lowering these chains 
an almost imperceptible degree. This serves to start the 
music-box, however, which is all that is required. 

The test employed by Doctor Monck was of a different 
character. He would place a music-box on the table, and 
cover it with a cigar box, or other box, and the sitters were 
at liberty to keep their hands upon this throughout the sit- 
ting. Nevertheless the music-box played at command, 
though the box and table could be examined, and the me- 
dium's hands were held. 
\J This effect was produced by the aid of a second music- 
box, playing the same airs as the first, and attached to the 
leg of the medium, just above the bend of the knee, within 
the trouser. When not in use the box rested beneath the 
knee, but when required for action it was brought around 
to the front of the leg, resting above the knee. The box 
was so arranged that pressure on a stud at the top caused 
it to play, the music immediately ceasing when such pressure 
was removed. Of course the box on the top of the table is 
silent throughout, the music being under the perfect control 
of the medium. 

The accordion test has been rendered famous chiefly be- 
cause it was one of the phenomena produced in Sir William 
Crookes's presence through the mediumship of D. D. Home. 
I have discussed this test on pp. 374-7, giving my reasons for 
thinking that the test was not produced by any such means 
at those particular sittings. In the present chapter I shall 



200 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

describe the various means that are employed to cause the 
accordion to play by itself, when trickery is employed. 

One method of working the trick is for the medium to take 
hold of the accordion in his right hand (his left being held 
by a sitter above the table) at the end opposite that on which 
are the keys of the instrument. The notes are now at the 
end farthest away from him, in which position they are sup- 
posed to be throughout the seance. The accordion plays 
nevertheless, and, at the conclusion of the seance, it is 
brought up in the same position in which it was placed under 
the table. The trick is simple enough. In the act of plac- 
ing the accordion under the table, the medium turned it end 
for end, so that the end with the keys or notes is now in his 
hand, and the strap end hanging downward. This lower end 
the medium grasps between his knees, and, by flexing his 
wrist strongly, he can play the instrument after a fashion, 
which is all that is required. Before the accordion is brought 
up again, the medium is careful to reverse the ends, so that 
the end containing the notes again hangs downward, as at 
first. A variation of working this trick is for the medium 
to have concealed about him a loop of catgut, to which is 
attached a small sharp hook. The loop is produced by the 
medium, under cover of the table, and passed under the foot. 
The hook is now inserted into a small iron " eye " in the 
lower end of the accordion, and the medium may pull against 
this in producing a certain number of notes from the in- 
strument. 

If the accordion is tied and sealed the medium can still 
produce music therefrom, provided a dark seance be allowed. 
He simply attaches a rubber tube to the air-hole or valve 
and blows into the other end of this tube. His lungs take 
the place of bellows. 

There are mediums known as " trumpet mediums," whose 
specialty is the production of voices, etc., through a trumpet, 
these voices often being recognized by sitters as character- 
istic of their departed friends, as giving information pre- 
viously unknown to them, etc. This latter aspect of the 
problem I shall not stop to discuss now, but shall confine my- 



Miscellaneous Physical Tests 201 

self to the actual voices, and the various methods of produc- 
ing them. 

In the vast majority of cases, the trumpet talking is done 
by the medium himself. If the seance is in the dark, the 
medium's task is an easy one, he having only to wave the 
trumpet about and imitate whatever voices he desires. By 
attaching the trumpet to the end of the telescopic rod men- 
tioned on p. 196, and moving this about, voices can be made 
to appear in various parts of the room at will. Sometimes 
the trumpet is partly in sight, when the room is only par- 
tially darkened, and yet the voices come. This is accom- 
plished by a small piece of rubber tubing being attached to 
the mouth of the horn, and the medium speaks into the other 
end of this tube. The voice appears to issue from the horn. 
At other times the medium employs a second trumpet, speak- 
ing into that, and it is almost impossible to distinguish the 
difference by locating the sound {v. p. 101, etc.). At other 
times the medium consents to be held by two sitters while 
the horn is doing the talking. When this is the case, the 
medium generally has a confederate, who manipulates the 
horn, does the talking, etc. 

Sometimes these seances are given " in the light," i. e. 9 in 
dim twilight. In these cases, the horn is laid on the floor of 
the room, and the voices issue therefrom as before. The 
trick consists in the fact that a rubber tube connects the end 
of the horn with a confederate's mouth, he being hidden in 
the cellar below, and he it is who does the talking. When 
the medium gives these seances in his own house, an elaborate 
arrangement of speaking-tubes is employed, rendering a 
magnificent test seance possible. 

There are also horn tests in which an ordinary horn is 
simply " tooted," but under conditions that render it impos- 
sible, supposedly, for the medium to get at and manipulate 
the horn. If the horn is out of reach, it may be secured by 
means of the telescopic rod, spoken of at the commencement 
of this chapter. Sounds may be produced in various parts of 
the room, beyond the reach of the medium, by means of the 
same instrument ; the horn is fitted into the end of the rod, 



202 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

and the medium blows through the hollow tube thus formed, 
waving the rod about, all the time, in various directions. 

The chief tests, however, are the following. The medium 
is requested to fill his mouth with water, and to spit this 
water out again at the conclusion of the seance, thus proving 
that he did not do the " tooting." 

The methods of " getting around " this test, to use the 
language employed by the professional medium, are numer- 
ous. The medium may attach a miniature pair of bellows 
to the horn, and may blow through it in that manner. 
Again, he may place the horn in his nose, and blow through 
it ; or the medium may attach a rubber ball to the horn, and 
squeeze that, thus producing sounds of a more or less cer- 
tain character. Lastly, the medium may simply swallow the 
water, blow the horn in the regular manner, and, at the con- 
clusion of the seance, refill his mouth from a bottle concealed 
in one of his pockets. 

An investigator once suspected the manner in which the 
medium did this trick, and, just before the seance commenced, 
he came forward, with a glass of wine, which he insisted the 
medium should hold in his mouth during the manifestations. 
The medium agreed. The horn " tooted " its loudest, and, 
at the conclusion of the seance, the medium ejected the wine 
from his mouth, leaving the investigator to wonder what did 
do the " tooting " on that particular occasion anyway ! The 
medium had taken one of the tea-bells, inverted it, held it 
firmly by the handle between his knees, and emptied the wine 
from his mouth into it. At the conclusion of the seance, he 
had merely to take this wine into his mouth again, and — 
voila tout! 

Magicians have invented various miniature " spirit-cab- 
inets " in which the usual manifestations take place on a 
small scale. These cabinets are about three feet wide, by 
three high, by one deep. The performer stands outside the 
cabinet, and the manifestations take place within it — the 
ringing of bells, the " tooting " of horns, etc. There are 
two varieties of cabinet in use; one, a very simple one, in 
which a black silk thread is stretched across the stage, from 



Miscellaneous Physical Tests 203 

side to side, the two ends being in the hands of assistants. 
The bell, tambourine, etc., have small hooks attached to them, 
and the performer is careful to place these hooks over the 
thread in placing the instruments into the cabinet. The 
slate, on which a message is apparently written, is a trick- 
slate, the one described on pp. 91-2. A full account of the 
method of working this cabinet will be found in Mahatma, 
Vol. VII., No. 6 (December, 1903). 

In the case of the other class of cabinet, there is a small 
boy concealed behind it, he being on a shelf which is sup- 
ported by fine wires, counter-weights being affixed to the 
other end of these wires. As the cabinet itself has previously 
been taken to pieces, and rests on a sheet of glass, supported 
on the backs of two slight chairs, it seems impossible that 
any one can be concealed behind it, without breaking the 
glass. This trick involves quite a lot of stage mechanism, 
and the full explanation cannot be attempted here. It will 
be found in Hopkins's Magic, Stage Illusions, etc., pp. 35-7. 

One very clever trick remains to be described, for the 
secret of which I am indebted to Mr. E. D. Lunt, of Boston. 
It consists in turning the sitter's waistcoat inside out, while 
the coat is still on his back, and while the sitter's hands are 
tied securely together behind his back. No confederate is 
employed, and there is no trick about the waistcoat. The 
medium blindfolds the sitter, takes him into the cabinet with 
him, and, in a very short space of time, brings him for- 
ward with his vest turned inside out ! The sitter's hands are 
examined and are found to be still firmly tied together be- 
hind his back, and the knots sealed. 

'This test is performed in the following manner. The me- 
dium steps behind the sitter and quickly unbuttons his coat 
and vest (from the pockets of which all articles should pre- 
viously have been removed, as " the spirits " are sometimes 
rather rough on the clothes!). The medium now pulls the 
coat backward over the arms and on to the hands, which are 
tied together. The vest is next pulled down backward in 
precisely the same manner as the coat, over which it now 
hangs. The entire coat is then pulled through the armhole 



204 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

on the button side of the vest (the right), and is pulled up 
the right arm, where it is left for a minute. The vest is now 
on the left arm, with the buttonhole side nearest the left 
shoulder. Now take hold of the lowest corner of the button 
side of the vest (the right) and carry it round and through 
the armhole on the buttonhole side of the vest, pulling it 
through as far as it will go. Next take hold of the lowest 
left-hand corner of the vest (the buttonhole side), and pull 
that also through the same armhole, when it will be found 
that the vest is really turned inside out. It is, however, still 
on the left arm. The vest is pulled down to the wrists, and 
the coat passed back through the armhole on the side nearest 
to it, so as to bring the vest outside the coat as at first. All 
that now remains to be done is to pull up the waistcoat over 
the back of the sitter, then the coat, and the trick is done. 
By practice, this can be done in a remarkably short time, 
though the description may sound very complicated. 

A brief mention should be made of the performance of 
Mrs. Abbott, who accomplished feats apparently far beyond 
her strength, such as lifting a man sitting on the top of a 
billiard cue, while several other men were also attempting to 
hold it down ; placing the tips of her fingers against the wall, 
and a line of several strong men was unable to push her 
against the wall ; placing herself in such a " condition " 
that the strongest man in the audience could not lift her from 
the floor, etc. The medium herself put the effects down to a 
sort of " magnetism," but it was readily proved that they 
were all dependent upon certain well-known laws of me- 
chanics, she taking advantage of them for her performance. 
I could explain her performance in detail, but refrain from 
doing so, for the reason that exposes of her performance 
have been published so frequently before. I refer the inter- 
ested reader to a book entitled Lulu Hurst: Revelations of 
the Georgia Magnet; to pp. 157-65 of the Revelations of a 
Spirit Medium; to pp. 274-88 of The Supernatural? by 
L. A. Weatherly and J. N. Maskelyne; to Mr. Myers's 
paper " Resolute Credulity " in Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. 
XI., pp. 219-25 (containing exposes of the performance, 



Miscellaneous Physical Tests 205 

and explanations thereof by Sir O. J. Lodge, Prof. James 
H. Hyslop, Dr. R. Hodgson, the Rev. Solon Laner, etc.); 
to Journal S. P. R., Vol. V., pp. 168-9, etc. Further criti- 
cism is hardly necessary. 



CHAPTER XI 



SPIRIT - PHOTOGRAPHY 



The whole history of modern spiritualism has probably 
contained no more bitter contests than have arisen over this 
question of the possibility and the reality of " spirit-photo- 
graphs ; " of those photographs, that is, on which appear a 
face, or a number of faces (as the case may be), of departed 
friends or relatives of the sitter, on the same plate upon 
which was taken the photograph of the flesh and blood sitter 
himself. The individual merely sits and is taken just as in 
any case, apparently; but, when the plate comes to be de- 
veloped, lo and behold! upon it are observed one or more 
" spirit " faces. The question is : how did those faces get 
there? Are they the result of some trick in the printing or 
developing of the plates ; or are they the real photographs 
of genuine spirits, sufficiently materialized for the time being 
to impress the sensitive plate of the photographer, though 
invisible to the gross physical eye? The scientific and skep- 
tical world holds to the former of these opinions ; the spirit- 
ualistic world to the latter. It should be obvious that this 
question cannot be settled by a priori considerations alone, 
but must be settled by an appeal to facts. To these facts 
I accordingly turn, reserving the theoretic discussion for a 
later page. 

That these spirit-photographs can be produced by trick- 
ery no one doubts who is acquainted with the evidence and 
the facts in the case. Granting that the medium is free to 
manipulate the plates before, during, and after the seance, 
or at any one of these times, it is well known that he is able 
to produce exact reproductions of supposedly spirit forms 

206 



Spirit-photography 207 

by purely fraudulent means. The question is, therefore, 
are the conditions such as to preclude the possibility of any 
substitution or manipulation of the plates by the medium? 
If the conditions are not exact enough to preclude this, then 
the evidence is obviously worthless, from the scientific point 
of view, for the scientist would very naturally insist that 
all fraud be excluded before he will consider the evidence for, 
and the nature of, this astonishing fact, if fact it be. The 
whole question is one of perfection of the conditions imposed. 
The actual methods of trickery that are possible, the means 
employed to trick the unwary, in this field, will presently be 
detailed; for the moment, I wish to consider, very briefly, 
the historical evidence in the case, and to see what support 
is afforded the claims of the spiritualists by the past evidence 
— this being simply an appeal to facts. 

Going back no further than the Report of the Seybert 
Commission, we find that this committee was unable to pro- 
cure the services of any medium at that time who would give 
seances for the production of spirit-photography under 
conditions that were in any way satisfactory, or even that 
did not point to obvious fraud, as the motive of the so-called 
" conditions " demanded. W. M. Keeler demanded, e. g., the 
" exclusive use of the dark room and my own instrument " 
(p. 91), conditions which were, as Doctor Furness pointed 
out, " simply silly." The conditions insisted upon were such 
as to render fraud of the most transparent kind the simplest 
thing in the world. No other mediums, however, volunteered 
to give seances under any better conditions, and the matter 
was accordingly dropped. 

Cases of spirit-photographs being obtained under appar- 
ently good " test conditions " continued to be printed in vari- 
ous spiritualistic journals, however, though the character 
of most of the evidence is exceedingly poor to any one going 
through it with critical care, and in spite of the fact that 
the investigations of the S. P. R. and many other individuals 
failed to bring to light any conclusive, positive facts in sup- 
port of the evidence there accumulated. The deadlock was 
finally disposed of, and matters brought to a head, by the 



208 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

publication, in The Arena (January, 1891), of an article 
by Dr. A. R. Wallace, " Are There Objective Apparitions? " 
which essay was afterward bound up in the later edition of 
his Miracles and Modem Spiritualism, pp. 231-54. Doctor 
Wallace contended that apparitions are occasionally object- 
ive realities, and not invariably subjective hallucinations, and 
appealed to five classes of facts to support him in his posi- 
tion. These are: (1) The fact that these phantoms are 
sometimes seen by two or more persons at the same time ; the 
" collective hallucinations " of the psychical researcher. 
(2) The fact that these phantoms, when thus seen by two 
individuals, from different points of space, appear to differ 
in the relation to the individual, just as a real figure would 
differ. (3) The fact that dogs and other domestic animals 
are often reported to act as if they were aware of the pres- 
ence of a figure. (4) The fact that phantoms sometimes 
(apparently, at least) produce real, physical effects in the 
material world, thus proving their objective reality, apart 
from the mind of the seer; and (5), the fact that these 
apparitions, or phantoms, can be occasionally photographed. 
We are not concerned at present with any aspect of the 
problem, save that of the evidence for spirit-photography. 
The real evidence presented in Doctor Wallace's book is cer- 
tainly as inconclusive as possible, but Doctor Wallace, no 
doubt, would assert that the cases cited are merely samples, 
and are not intended to be convincing in themselves. Let 
us admit all that. The question now became one of his- 
toric research, of examination of cases, and a study of the 
methods and records of the principal mediums, who were at 
one time or another known to the spiritualistic world as 
" mediums who could produce spirit-photographs." 

Obviously this task was a very laborious one. It was, 
nevertheless, undertaken by Mrs. Sidgwick, and the results 
of her researches given to the world in the form of a mag- 
nificent paper, " On Spirit Photographs," published in Pro- 
ceedings S. P. R., Vol. VII., pp. 268-89. In this article, 
Mrs. Sidgwick examined the records of Mumler, Hudson, 
Parkes, and Buguet (the four principal mediums engaged in 



Spirit-photography 209 

the production of spirit-photographs), and showed that the 
evidence was not only absolutely inconclusive in all their 
cases, but that gross and constant fraud had been charged 
against every one of these mediums and conclusively proved 
to exist. So far as the historical evidence went, then, pro- 
fessional mediums certainly could not be said to establish 
anything beyond a healthy doubt in the investigator's mind 
that such phenomena were ever genuine. Mrs. Sidgwick 
then offers some very sane and valuable remarks on the 
recognition of friends, relatives, etc., in these photographs, 
showing how difficult a thing it is to conclusively establish 
the identity of any person on such evidence, and the nature 
of the extreme uncertainty in these cases, owing to the pos- 
sibilities of fraud, mistaken identity, etc. Finally, Mrs. 
Sidgwick examined a number of cases in which spirit-photo- 
graphs had been apparently produced on an ordinary plate, 
when no professional medium had been employed. Her con- 
clusion was that, either because of the nature of the spirit 
face produced (this often being only a mere blur on the 
plate), or the conditions of light, etc., under which the photo- 
graph was taken, or because of lack of sufficient detail in the 
description, or for other reasons it would be too tedious to 
enter into here, the evidence was inconclusive, to that date, 
and did not by any means prove spirit-photography to be a 
reality, or even a plausible possibility. I would refer all in- 
terested to the Report itself, since no mere summing up can 
suffice to do it justice. I also refer them to Podmore's 
Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., pp. 117-25. 

Of late years, one or two cases have been recorded which 
require careful examination. Some of the most remarkable 
of these cases are recorded in Dr. I. K. Funk's The Widow's 
Mite, etc., pp. 451-84. I cannot now discuss these cases in 
detail without the evidence being before the reader. The 
cases are certainly most striking, though to my mind not 
conclusive. They rest almost entirely on the reliability of the 
witnesses, and, although there is not the slightest reason for 
doubting their integrity, still, evidence of this character, so 
long as the physical possibility is present, will never convince 



210 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the scientific world, and rightly. It is the case of William 
Stainton Moses over again ! 

The other case to which I refer is remarkable also, though 
in a little different way. This case was published in Pro- 
ceedings S. P. R., Vol. XIV., pp. 234-9, and discussed at 
great length in the Society's Journal (Vol. IX. ; also in Vol. 
VII., pp. 165-71). In this case, the camera was exposed and 
left for some considerable time in that manner, an " interior " 
being taken. When the plate came to be developed, it was 
found to contain a figure seated in an empty chair, facing 
the camera, and, to make matters more interesting, it was 
afterward ascertained that this figure bore a resemblance 

to Lord D , the owner of D Hall (the library of 

which was being photographed), and that the Lord D 

had actually died on that day, unknown to the person taking 
the photograph! The case, though most interesting, is sci- 
entifically inconclusive, for the reason that the camera was 
left unprotected for some time; and, though it was never 
proved that any person had entered the room in the interval, 
its possibility causes us to reject this case, on the grounds 
of " Not proven." 

There are few, probably, who would deny the scientific 
possibility of such a thing as " spirit-photography," on a 
priori grounds alone. The cases of alleged materialization, 
the cases of apparitions, and kindred phenomena, cause us 
to suspect that, some day, spirit-photography may be a pos- 
sibility, if many of the alleged phenomena of psychical re- 
search have any basis in fact at all. In any case it is no 
good to deny the possibility of such phenomena, since the 
phenomena, if real, can some day be proved to exist, and 
thus settle all a priori speculations in the matter at once. 
These are useless in work such as psychical research, in any 
case (v. pp. 332-3, etc.). The recent cases of alleged 
" thought-photography," though doubtless inconclusive, are 
still interesting and suggestive enough to induce us to keep 
an open mind in this direction, and not to be too dogmatic, 
either for or against. While the historic evidence in the 
case is certainly inconclusive, as stated, there is sufficient 



Spirit-photography 211 

evidence in it of the supernormal to warrant our continued 
search in that direction, with the hope that, some day, 
genuine phenomena may be obtained. With these remarks 
I shall pass on to consider the methods that are employed by 
the medium, in order to produce these photographs by 
fraudulent means, and the tests that should be applied in 
order to offset the medium's attempts at trickery and decep- 
tion. 

There are many ways in which spirit forms may be made 
to appear on the sensitive plate, and I shall briefly describe 
some of them. The following very excellent account of a 
number of methods that are employed appeared in a maga- 
zine a number of years ago, and is well worth quoting at 
some length. It reads, in part, as follows: 

" In order to give our readers some idea of the method 
in which these frauds are practised, it will be necessary to 
describe a part of the ordinary process of photography. 
The most important preparation of the glass plate for the 
negative is termed * sensitizing,' and is effected as follows : * 
The operator, holding the clean glass plate horizontally on 
his left hand, carefully pours over it sufficient collodion, a 
preparation of guncotton dissolved in a mixture of ether 
and alcohol, to cover the whole surface, and leave thereon 
a thin, transparent film, when poured off. When this coat- 
ing has settled to a gummy consistency, it is placed on an 
instrument called a ' dipper ' — a species of hook made of 
glass, porcelain, or rubber — and deposited in a bath, con- 
taining a solution of nitrate of silver, where it is left for 
perhaps two minutes. The bath is generally a vertical glass 
vessel, flat-sided like a pocket-flask, but uncovered. The 
plate is so placed in the bath that no portion of the collodion- 
ized surface touches the sides of the vessel. When the plate 
is lifted out of the dipper, its face is covered with a creamy, 

1 1 have purposely preserved the original form of this paper (though, 
of course, many of the methods the author describes are now obsolete), 
for the reason that the older spirit-photographers worked under just the 
conditions described, and hence the description is probably accurate of 
the conditions at that time. The newer methods are exposed later on in 
this chapter. 



212 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

opaque film, and it is then fully sensitized, that is, prepared 
to receive impressions through the camera. This prepara- 
tion must be completed in the dark room, inasmuch as the 
plate is more or less sensitive from the moment of entering 
the bath, and exposure to the light would ruin it. The en- 
suing part of the process, including the placing of the plate 
in the dark slide, and carrying it to the camera, focusing, 
exposing, and returning the plate to the dark room, has been 
witnessed by most people who have had a picture taken. 

" After returning to the dark room, the operator takes 
the plate from the slide, and pours over the surface, still 
covered with the white, sensitive film, a solution of iron, 
called, in photographic technology, the ' developer.' This 
iron precipitates the silver ; here and there the creamy white 
of the film fades away, the black shadows come forth, and 
the picture grows out from the pallid surface, first in pale 
shadows, which ultimately develop to strong reliefs of black 
and white, like the shadows of a wizard's mirror. The plate 
is liable to impressions from the moment in the nitrate of 
silver bath, until the development of the picture is complete, 
so that at any immediate stage of the negative-making proc- 
ess, it is possible to produce ' ghosts ' on the picture, as we 
shall shortly explain. But even after the negative is made 
there are large opportunities for ghost-manufacture during 
the making of the positive, which is printed from the nega- 
tive on albumenized paper, rendered sensitive to light by im- 
mersion in a nitrate of silver solution. The sunlight, acting 
through the glass negative on the sensitive paper, makes the 
positive picture on the card photograph. There is consider- 
able opportunity for humbug during the operation of * re- 
touching ' the negative before printing. The term ' retouch- 
ing ' covers a multitude of means by which smoothness, clear- 
ness, transparency of shadows, strength of color, etc., are 
given to prints, freckles removed, boils eliminated, scars 
obliterated, beauty bestowed, and the original of the por- 
trait gracefully flattered to his heart's content. Further 
description of the process will not be essential to our purpose 
of showing that in the dark room, before exposure, in the 




Dr. Richard Hodgson 
A " spirit-photograph " which Dr. Hodgson had taken in order to show 
that a face may be made to appear over jewelry, as the result of fraudu- 
lent manipulation of the plates. Spiritualists have frequently asserted 
this to be impossible — unless the "spirit" be genuine. It will be ob- 
served that the face, in this instance, appears over the watch-chain. 



Spirit-photography 213 

opening during exposure, in the development of the negative, 
in the retouching of the negative, and in printing of the 
negative, fraud may be successfully practised by spirit- 
mongers. . . . Now for the process of ghost-manufacture! 
" The plate upon which the negative has been made may 
subsequently serve for scores of others, if carefully washed, 
and in all photograph galleries numbers of old negatives are 
washed out from time to time, and used afresh. The washing 
must be very thorough, else the old impression will come out 
faint and misty with the new one. It is consequently a com- 
mon expression in photograph galleries, ' Wash those plates 
cleaner, old impressions are coming out.' Well, some eastern 
photographer had at one time lying in his dark room an old 
negative of a picture resembling a fair girl in her snowy 
bridal dress, fleecy veil, and fresh orange blossoms, — at 
least, we will so suppose. The dust of years had noiselessly 
enveloped the old negative with its ashy molecules ; the bridal 
dress had passed in fragments into the grimy bags of some 
great rag-merchant, and the very memory of the wearer had 
passed away like the fragrance of her bridal flowers, from 
the musk-haunted atmosphere of fashionable society. So 
there was no more use for the old negative, and they made 
a boy wash it out. The glass was freed from dust and film, 
and the shadowy presence that had dwelt there; and the 
sunshine sparkled through it as through crystal. And it 
came to pass ere long that a bearded man came to have his 
picture taken; and when it was developed by the strange 
magic of chemistry, behold the shadow picture had returned, > 
fainter indeed, but still lovely; and it floated in pale light^ 
behind the figure of the bearded stranger. Probably the 
careless apprentice was scolded for his carelessness, and a 
new plate procured ; but the strange picture haunted by the 
gentle shadow, all in diaphanous robes of samite, and 
wreathed with ghostly flowers, was preserved by reason of 
its weird beauty. And one day the junior partner of the 
firm, while gazing at it, suddenly slapped his thigh, and cried 
aloud, ' By G — d, Jim, let's go into the spirit-manufactur- 
ing business ! ' 



214 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

" By imperfect cleansing of the plates the most eerie 
effects can be produced. About a year and a half ago a 
poor Indiana photographer created a tremendous sensation 
by the production of spirit-photographs in this manner, his 
success being in great part owing to the skill of a shrewd 
retoucher in his employ, who utilized the shadows of dead 
negatives in a truly admirable manner. The fellow might 
have made a fortune, had not the trickery been exposed a 

little too soon. The best of 's spirit-photographs 

seem to have been made by various modifications of this proc- 
ess, portions of the old negatives being thoroughly washed 
out so as to admit of proper adjustment. The knave's dupe 
is deceived by being allowed to handle and examine the ap- 
parently clean plate in the first instance, and afterward to 
follow it through all its peregrinations. Whenever the ghost 
impression is thus made, the spirit figure will appear behind 
the sitter, unless, indeed, the old impression be so strong 
as to affect the development of the new. In brief we may 
say that all ghost impressions made before exposure, that is, 
before the plate is exposed in the camera, will come out ap- 
parently in the rear of the living figure ; and when the ghost 
figure is created subsequent to exposure, the spectre will 
seem to stand out in front of the person photographed. As 

the spectres at 's lair almost invariably stand in front 

of the sitter, we must conclude that the ghost impression 
is almost invariably made subsequent to exposure. This is 
not rendered any more likely, however, from the fact that 

's patrons are requested to bring their own plates 

with them, and mark them carefully; for we have already 
shown that the fraud may be practised in the dark room 
after sensitizing, before exposure, after exposure, or during 
exposure. 

" By the old method above described, by which both an 
old and a new impression are together developed from the 
same plate, it is far easier to make good ghost-pictures. 
Both the imperfectly washed-out ghost figure, and the fresh 
impression are negative impressions, and produce good posi- 
tives in printing. But the figure of a ghost impressed upon 




Imitation spirit-photo, done by F. W. Fallis, of Chicago, after investi- 
gating the process of R. N. Foster and wife, who claim to take spirit-pho- 
tographs. Herein may be seen pictures of Maud Lord-Drake, John Slater, 
and J. Clegg Wright, as well as of other living persons (1888). For full 
expose of Foster, see Religio- Philosophical Journal. 



Spirit-photography 215 

the sensitive plate by another negative, will produce a posi- 
tive in development, and a negative in printing; so that, in 
the card photograph, the living picture would come out a 
positive, and the ghost as a negative. This will account for 
certain ghosts with black faces and white raiment, whose ac- 
quaintance we had the good fortune to make. Taking these 
things into consideration we must conclude that, when 

produces ghosts subsequent to the preparation of 

the plate for exposure, the secret of his art lies in the manu- 
facture of ghosts from ' transparent positives.' Thus the 
ghosts become negatives in the new picture ; and both figures 
will be printed as positives. The operation requires great 
judgment in focusing. 

" While the plate is in the bath, impressions may be made 
upon it which will remain unperceived until the exposure has 
been made and the plate developed. A well-known photog- 
rapher was not long since bothered considerably by finding 
that every plate dipped into a certain nitrate of silver bath 
in his dark room came out in developing with the letters ' P. 
Smith ' across the face of the picture. It was finally dis- 
covered that a ray of light, passing through a tiny crevice 
in the wall of the dark room, struck the side of the glass 
bath on which the name of the maker was stamped in relief, 
and the letters were thus impressed on the face of the sensi- 
tive plate. With a glass bath, and a concealed light, won- 
derful frauds in the spirit line can be practised, and, by 
placing a transparent positive between the light and the 
plate in the bath, splendid ghosts could be made, even while 
the dupe is looking on in the belief that he cannot be fooled ! 
We might dilate at great length on this use of the bath, but 
it will not be necessary. After exposure, the plate may be 
returned to the bath for a short while without fear of injur- 
ing the impression, and the ghost figure then impressed upon 
it. 

" Another method is to hold up the sensitive plate (either 
before or after operating) for one or two seconds before 
a jet of gaslight, in the dark room, or even before the 
yellow-paned glass, as though to examine the coating of the 



216 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

plate, holding between it and the window or gaslight an old 
negative, transparent positive, or ' magic lantern trans- 
parency.' Two or three seconds will suffice for the clearest 
of impressions ; and the looker-on would probably never 
dream of deception, supposing that the operator was exam- 
ining the plate, ' to see if it was all right.' According to 
the distance between the two plates, the ghost figure will be 
stronger or fainter. We witnessed last Thursday a splendid 
operation of this kind at the Boston Gallery, in which two 
seconds sufficed for the production of a ghost figure by gas- 
light. By a clever device, the sensitive plate may be im- 
pressed with the figure of a ghost while in the dark slide, on 
the way to or from the operating-room, or even while in the 
camera itself. Indeed, twenty different varieties of decep- 
tions may be practised without exposure. A common artifice 
is to place a microscopic picture within the camera-box, so 
that, by means of a small magnifying lens, its image may 
be thrown upon the plate. Spectral effects may also be pro- 
duced by covering the back of a sensitive plate with pieces 
of cut paper, and using artifices well known to retouchers. 
. . . Extraordinary spectral effects, such as that of a man 
shaking hands with his own ghost, cutting off his own head, 
or followed by his own do ppelg anger, may be produced by 
' masking,' a process which it would take too long to describe 
here. There is scarcely any conceivable absurdity in por- 
traiture which may not be accomplished by the camera ; and 
the peculiarities of the business are so extraordinary, the 
opportunities for humbug so excellent, and the methods and 
modifications of methods whereby spirit-photographs may be 
manufactured so numerous, that it is hopeless for any per- 
son totally ignorant of photography to detect a fellow like 

in the act of fraud. Indeed, it often takes an expert 

in photography to detect certain cases of deception. Were 
we not limited by time and space in this article we could 
readily fill forty columns with an account of the many arti- 
fices practised by spirit-photographers." 

In addition to the methods described so ably in the above 
article, there are several others now widely employed; 




This photograph shows many interesting features. The general position 
is most extraordinary, but it bears marks of fraudulent manipulation ; note 
especially the left hand, and the imperfect nose. The " spirit " is said to 
be the sitter's wife. This photograph was developed by the sitter himself. 



Spirit-photography 217 

the chief of these being undoubtedly that known as " double 
exposure." In this method, a confederate of the medium's is 
dressed up in the appropriate flowing robes that the spirits 
are supposed to wear, and the photographer uncovers the lens 
and " takes " the sitter just as in any other case, the only 
difference being that only about half the time-exposure is 
given, so that this figure, when the plate is developed, will 
appear dim, hazy, and indistinct, this hazy effect being some- 
what heightened by taking the figure a little out of focus. 
This plate is then put aside, undeveloped, and when the real 
sitter arrives, his picture is taken on this same plate, the 
time-exposure being that normally given. The effect of this 
is to produce a photograph on which is visible, besides the 
portrait of the sitter, a dim, semi-transparent figure, which 
stands behind the sitter of flesh and blood, and which cannot 
be accounted for by any normal means ! If the figure should, 
perchance, appear in front of the sitter, this has been accom- 
plished by taking the sitter's photograph first, on a clean 
plate, and the spirit second, allowing a very short exposure. 
The general effect in both cases is very remarkable. 

Still other methods that are sometimes employed are the 
following : A picture or portrait is painted on the " back- 
screen " with a solution of sulphate of quinine. When this 
dries, it will be quite invisible to the naked eye. When the 
photograph is taken, however, it will appear quite plainly 
on the plate. 

Sometimes very small pictures are taken on thin, trans- 
parent celluloid, and these are fastened against the front 
lens of the camera. When the photograph is taken in the 
regular manner, these also appear on the plate. 

Again, the spirit form can be printed first on the negative 
and then the living sitter by a second printing ; or the spirit 
can be printed on the paper, and the sitter's portrait printed 
over it. 

The above methods are not all those that are employed by 
fraudulent mediums in producing this class of manifestation ; 
there are doubtless others of which I am ignorant; but the 
above will serve to show, at least, the varieties of fraud that 



/ 



218 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

may be safely practised by mediums, in this line, and how 
impossible it is for the average person to detect fraud, when 
dealing with mediums who are experts. For example: the 
sitter may bring his own marked plates to the sitting, see 
them inserted in the camera, stand over the medium all the 
time the plates are being developed in the dark room, and take 
the plates home with him again, without any delay, and still 
be most outrageously swindled and cheated, right under his 
very eyes ! The tricks of this trade can only be detected by 
an expert in photography, and one, too, who is thoroughly 
familiar with all the varieties of fraud that are practised by 
mediums, and who is thoroughly familiar with human nature, 
and the psychology of deception. 

I shall conclude this section on spirit-photography by de- 
scribing the methods practised by mediums to obtain spirit 
faces, and how it is that, when visiting a strange town, — 
which the sitter has perhaps never entered before in his life, 
— and visiting a spirit-photographer, portraits are obtained 
of the sitter's dead friends and relatives — that most 
convincing of all tests! 

All those mediums who enter this branch of " spiritual 
work " make it their duty to provide themselves with small, 
pocket hand-cameras, those which will take a very small 
photo of an object when it is placed about one foot away 
from the camera. At every possible or conceivable oppor- 
tunity, the medium extracts this camera from his pocket, and 
proceeds to copy the photograph of the person whose like- 
ness he wishes to secure. These photographs can be pro- 
cured either from the local photographer, or from an occa- 
sional family album, etc. The medium obtains a large num- 
ber of these, especially of all prominent spiritualists, who are 
liable to have their photographs frequently taken for pub- 
lication purposes. Needless to say, the medium may visit 
the prospective sitter and, if possible, obtain a photograph 
(as well as much other useful information) in the guise of a 
newspaper reporter. By hook or crook, then, the medium 
manages to obtain many of these photographs of spiritual- 




In the above photograph, it will be noticed that several of the " spirits " 
are wearing helmets, caps, turbans, etc. 



Spirit-photography 219 

ists, and their families, relations, and friends, both living and 
dead. This information is used to good advantage by the 
medium when he turns public medium (which he does not do 
until later), and commences the business of the production 
of spirit-photographs. By printing a number of the minia- 
ture faces, obtained as described, on the negative, after one 
or other of the methods described, in various portions of 
the plate, the sitter will be surprised to see developed, to- 
gether with his own portrait, distinct portraits of a number 
of dead relatives and friends of his, the faces being clear 
and easily recognizable! How this was accomplished is evi- 
dent. 

But how are we to explain those cases in which the sitter 
has, let us say, mailed his photograph to a spirit-medium 
living in a distant city, and who cannot be supposed to know 
anything of this individual, his dead friends and relatives, 
and who cannot be supposed to have any miniature photos 
or other information in his possession that would enable him 
to produce the spirit faces in the manner described? What 
then? In that case, the medium applied to writes to the me- 
dium living in the city where Mr. also resides, and 

asks if he has anything in the way of tests for Mr. , 

giving the name. Of course he has, and forwards them. He 
gets one-half of the profits of the transaction for this, and 
the sitter is convinced, or, in the language of the mediums, 
" nailed to the cross." 

It must not be forgotten that there is a sort of brother- 
hood among mediums throughout the country, enabling them 
to exchange information about sitters in this manner, to their 
mutual advantage and profit. As I have discussed this ques- 
tion at some length on pp. 312-18, however, I shall devote 
no more space to it now. 

But suppose the sitter visits the medium in person, in some 
distant city, in which he is presumably unknown, and still 
obtains recognizable faces on the plate, what then? In this 
case, the spirit-photographer probably fails to procure any 
definite, recognizable faces the first sitting — only vague 
figures. He promises to try and do better next time, and 



220 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

arranges to give another sitting later on. As, however, he 
is " extremely busy," just at that time, the sitting must be 
by appointment. 

Of course it is necessary for the medium to know his 
sitter's name and address in order that an entry may be made 
in his " appointment book." Once in possession of the sit- 
ter's identity, he may write to the sitter's home town, as 
above explained, and obtain all necessary information and 
material from the resident medium. He returns the material 
by registered mail, and is now " primed " for the next ar- 
rival of his sitter. The latter will now receive a number of 
fine " tests." 

If spirit faces are produced at the first sitting, it is prob- 
ably due to the fact that the medium is already possessed 
of a certain amount of information about his sitter before 
the latter arrived at all. Almost all prominent spiritualists 
are well known to the mediums throughout the country, and 
are sure to receive fine " tests " wherever they go. The 
Brotherhood keeps them all supplied with the latest informa- 
tion. 

It only remains to be said that I have been discussing, 
throughout, recognizable portraits only, and not mere vague 
figures, " guardian angels," etc., since these can always be 
found ad libitum, and present no scientific or convincing evi- 
dence whatever. 

In this chapter on " Spirit-photography," I shall include 
the descriptions and explanations of several miscellaneous 
tests, closely akin to it in general character. I include in 
this section, accordingly, explanations of the production of 
spirit-pictures — water and oil-paintings, etc. — which are 
produced without visible human agency. I mentioned several 
of these methods in the chapter on slate-writing — the pro- 
duction of faces on the sitter's slate — to which I refer the 
reader. I give here, first, a very similar method of produc- 
ing faces, scenes, etc., on plain white paper, before passing 
on to the more complicated and wonderful tests. 

The portrait is taken in the usual manner, and printed 



Spirit-photography 221 

on what is known as " solio paper." The photographer had 
best do this for you, unless you are an expert with the camera. 
After this is finished, it is bleached out with a solution of 
bichloride of mercury, this leaving the paper apparently 
perfectly blank. All that is now required in order to bring 
out this picture as clear as it was before, is to press the paper 
against a blotter that has been dampened with a solution of 
" hypo." This can be easily accomplished without detection, 
and the trick is done! It is highly probable that Mme. 
Blavatsky used this method to trick Colonel Olcott, and 
others of the Theosophical Society. 

Many spiritualists have been convinced by the production 
of supposed " spirit-pictures " — of oil-paintings, e. g., pro- 
duced without apparent human agency, and upon which the 
oil is still wet ! The canvas is first shown blank — it is free 
from mark or blemish of any kind. This is then taken into 
the cabinet, and deposited there, alongside the medium. The 
lights are now lowered, and, in a very few minutes, the lights 
are again turned up, and a complete picture is found upon 
the canvas, it being still wet, as stated. This proves that the 
painting was only just completed, at all events. The medium 
could not have produced the picture for three reasons : first, 
because the time that elapsed was far too short to allow any 
picture of the sort being painted; secondly, because the 
painting was done in the dark; and thirdly, perhaps, be- 
cause the medium cannot paint or draw in the least. For all 
these reasons, therefore, it is obvious that the medium did 
not produce the picture himself; and, since it was not he, 
then who could have done it but the intelligences that work 
through him — the spirits ? 

It was the medium who painted the picture, nevertheless, 
or rather it was through his agency that the picture was 
produced, and by normal means, too. If the seance was held 
in the medium's own house, the canvas was merely substituted 
for another one, exactly like it, upon which there was a 
painting, just completed. The exchange was effected by 
means of a trap-door, opening into the cabinet and it is 
through this opening that the medium passes the blank can- 



222 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

vas and receives the prepared one in return. If the canvas 
is small, the exchange is made without resorting to the trap- 
door method at all, the seat of the chair upon which the 
medium sits being hollow, and containing the duplicate pic- 
ture, for which the blank canvas is exchanged at the proper 
moment. If, however, the seance is held in the sitter's own 
house, and these methods are not possible, other means are 
resorted to, as follows. 

One method is for the medium to take an ordinary oil- 
painting, as fresh as possible (so long as the oil is quite dry), 
and over this lightly gum, around the edges, another piece of 
blank canvas, seeing to it that it looks neat at the edges. 
Now, as soon as the medium is alone in the cabinet, he care- 
fully peels off this outside piece of canvas, secreting it about 
his person, and exposing the under canvas (the one upon 
which is the painting) to view. In order to produce the 
impression of the painting still being wet, he quickly rubs 
over the painting with poppy-oil, and there is your spirit 
painting ! 

Another method of producing spirit-paintings is the fol- 
lowing, which depends on chemical means to effect the result. 
The oil-painting in this case is first varnished, and, after 
this is thoroughly dry, it is covered with a solution of water 
and " zinc white." The canvas will now have the appearance 
of being blank, and may be inspected. All the medium has 
to do, in order to restore the painting, is to wash over the 
canvas with a wet sponge, when the painting will appear as 
before. 

Sometimes a circle is treated to the rare sight of seeing a 
picture form or materialize before their eyes, when no human 
hand is touching the canvas, the picture apparently forming 
upon it of its own accord! This is a most astonishing test. 
Here is the explanation. 
y A picture is made with concentrated solutions of sulpho- 
cyanide of potassium, ferrocyanide of potassium, and tannin, 
all of which will be invisible until brought out by the proper 
reagent. This is a weak solution of tincture of iron, which 
is thrown upon the canvas by means of an atomizer. The 



Spirit-photography 223 

first then comes out red, the second blue, and the third black. 
Either the medium or a confederate creeps behind the canvas 
during the seance, and thoroughly sprays over the back of 
the picture, when it will develop, as stated. In order to 
cover the sound of the atomizer, a music-box is set going, 
or the sitters are requested to sing " Nearer, My God, to 
Thee"! 



CHAPTER XII 



THE PARAFFINE MOULD TEST 



There are few " phases " of spiritualistic phenomena 
that have caused more sensation, and few that are more con- 
vincing, in a way, than the phenomena known as " paraffine 
mould tests." These phenomena were sufficiently strong to 
convert Prof. William Denton to the spiritualistic belief, if 
report speaks truly, and they have doubtless converted many 
persons of lesser distinction also. It is to be presumed that 
this book will be read by a number of persons who are not 
accustomed to attend spiritualistic seances, or at least who 
are not acquainted with all the phenomena that are witnessed 
at these seances, so that it will be necessary for me, briefly, 
to describe a seance of this character, and to state what 
takes place, so as to make the subsequent explanations in- 
telligible. 

A common pail is weighed, and the weight recorded. 
Into this pail is placed a certain amount of paraffine (about 
four or five pounds), which has previously been melted, and 
over this is poured a quantity of hot water, as hot as the 
hand can bear without being burned, when the paraffine will 
rise to the surface. Both the paraffine and the water have 
been carefully weighed, and their weights recorded. The 
pail is now lifted carefully, and placed in the cabinet, while 
the sitters, including the medium, sit outside the cabinet, 
forming a complete circle around it. The " cabinet," in this 
case, is not the ordinary one, placed against the wall, but 
consists of a kind of tent, made by fastening together four 
slats of wood at their upper corners, thus forming a sort 
of square, hollow box. Over this framework is thrown a 

224 



The Paraffine Mould Test 225 

thick, opaque cloth, reaching to the floor — the general 
effect being that of a table, the cloth of which reaches the 
ground on all sides. The " table " has no solid top, how- 
ever. One side of this curtain is raised, and the pail con- 
taining the water and paraffine is placed within, on the floor, 
and the curtain is again allowed to drop, effectually conceal- 
ing the pail from the eyes of all present. 

The lights are then lowered, and all take their places at 
the table; the medium, as stated, being one of the number. 
The lights are not sufficiently low to prevent the sitters from 
seeing the medium, whose outline may be distinguished by 
all present. 

After sitting thus for a few minutes, a sound is heard 
from within the improvised cabinet, and this is taken to be 
a signal to look under the curtain, and see what " the spirits " 
have accomplished. This is accordingly done, when there 
is found on the floor, and close beside the pail, a thin par- 
affine mould of a human hand ! 

Let me break off just here to state how these moulds would 
be produced normally. The first thing to do is to wash the 
hands in very strong soapsuds. While the hands are still 
wet, plunge one of them into the melted paraffine, and then 
quickly withdraw it. Repeat this operation four or five 
times, when a thin coating will cover the hand, showing its 
precise form so perfectly that even the exact appearance of 
the finger-nails can be readily recognized. To get this 
mould off the hand, give it an upward cut at the wrist, when 
it can be removed as easily as a loose glove, but will retain 
its shape to perfection. Close the cleft at the wrist, and 
cement the edges, by rapidly passing it over the blaze of a 
lighted lamp or candle, and afterwards smoothing it with 
the finger. The mould is now perfect. 

Of course, the majority of sitters do not know that the 
moulds are obtained in this manner. They know that they 
are obtained in some way, they do not know just how. But 
even if they do know how the moulds can be obtained, it does 
not alter their opinion of the phenomena at the seance, since, 
in these cases, no living person has placed his or her hand 



226 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

in the paraffine to produce the moulds, and these moulds are 
formed about materialized (spirit) hands, it is believed. And, 
indeed, it would appear so. The medium certainly had no 
opportunity of producing the moulds by dipping his own 
hands into the pail, since his hands can be seen throughout 
the seance; moreover, the moulds are compared with his 
hands at the conclusion of the seance, and are invariably 
found to be entirely different in every respect. A child's or 
a baby's hand is sometimes formed too, and found on the 
floor when the curtain is raised, at the conclusion of the 
sitting. As the medium did not produce the phenomena him- 
self ; as none of the other members of the circle could have 
done so without detection, and, as the manifestations are ob- 
tained in any house, the conclusion is inevitable that the 
moulds were not produced by normal agency, but by mate- 
rialized spirit hands or feet! 

Several typical seances, in which paraffine moulds of sup- 
posed spirit hands and feet were obtained will be found in 
Delanne's book, Evidence for a Future Life. On p. 126 is 
described a seance with Eglinton ; on pp. 159-61 will be 
found described a remarkable seance, in which the figure 
materialized at the same time. Other accounts are given in 
various parts of the book, but the impression one receives 
in reading over these accounts is their utter lack of evidential 
value. I cannot discuss this here, but will state that the 
accounts altogether lack the elements that induce conviction 
— to any one who knows the method by which the moulds are 
actually obtained. 

These moulds, being the productions of the spirit-world, 
supposedly, are highly prized by the believers, and are taken 
home and framed by them, as are the spirit-pictures and 
photographs. Reproductions of two such casts (the faces 
of " Asoka " and "Lilly") are reproduced on p. 195 of 
The Confessions of a Medium. 

When once it is known how the moulds are obtained, it 
merely becomes a question of how they are introduced into 
the cabinet, since that is the only supernormal part about 
it. That is done in a variety of ways. The casts are pre- 



The Paraffine Mould Test 227 

pared before the seance by the medium, who enlists the serv- 
ices of a number of confederates to dip their hands or feet 
into the paraffine, thus forming the moulds. These moulds 
are carefully preserved in wadding until required for use. 
Then, when the seance is about to commence, the medium, if 
she be a woman, attaches the moulds to her stocking by 
means of a small hook, her skirts effectually concealing these 
hands when they (the skirts) are lowered. During the 
seance, the light being dim, the medium has the opportunity 
to loosen these moulds and to place them, one at a time, upon 
the floor, within the cabinet. This can be easily accom- 
plished without detection, and the trick is done. 

If the medium be a man, he may have the moulds con- 
cealed in the seat of his chair, which is hollow, this forming 
a receptacle for the moulds that are to be later formed by 
the " materialized " hands and feet. 

There is one fact which needs to be explained, and that is 
the difference in the weight of the pail before and after the 
experiment. This difference is very slight, it is true, but 
helps to convince the skeptic. The weight of the pail and its 
contents before the seance is exactly equal to the weight 
of the pail, its contents, and the paraffine mould, after the 
latter is formed. This would seem to show that the paraffine 
was taken from the pail for the formation of the hand, and 
would disprove the theory that the mould was formed before 
the seance, and introduced into the cabinet during its 
progress. 

This lessening in weight is very small indeed, as the mould 
weighs but a trifling amount, but it must be taken into con- 
sideration, if the experiment is to be considered " scientific." 
In order to accomplish this lessening in weight, the medium 
may extract a very small quantity of the water contained 
in the pail, thus lessening the total weight at the final 
" weighing-in." Or he may wait for a small quantity of 
water to evaporate, as it will very quickly. Or the scales 
may be " doctored " to weigh as the medium sees fit ; or a 
confederate may be employed to deliberately give the wrong 
figures; or the medium may have some very minute weight 



228 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

that is attached to the pail, and removed in the act of taking 
the pail from the scales (after the first weighing), and plac- 
ing it in the cabinet. There are many ways that may be 
employed to lessen the weight of the pail, so that, when 
finally weighed, it will appear slightly less than at first ; the 
above will act as examples of possible methods. 

It must not be forgotten, in this connection, however, that 
this careful weighing has been resorted to in " test seances " 
only, when scientific men were present, testing the phenom- 
ena; and that, in the vast majority of cases, no such strict 
precautions were taken, even when weighing is insisted upon ; 
the sitters take the word of the husband of the medium 
(e.g.), without further investigation or inquiry. Moreover, 
there are cases on record where the weight of the pail and its 
contents has not decreased one particle, although several 
hands and feet were materialized during the seance and 
moulds formed around them! This would seem to conclu- 
sively prove fraud, for how can the hands be produced, even 
by spirits, without using up some of the paraffine, (which 
they are supposed to use)? — while, if the hands were made 
previously, and introduced into the cabinet during the mani- 
festations by the medium, we can readily understand the 
problem. D. D. Home gives an account of an exposure of 
this kind, in his Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism, pp. 
436-7, when the paraffine was collected after the seance and 
weighed. The result showed that the weight was exactly the 
same as it was before the seance commenced ! As Home said, 
" How is a narrative like the above to be disposed of ? " 

My readers will doubtless assert that the explanation of- 
fered does not explain those cases where a materialized figure 
walked from the cabinet, deliberately dipped its hands into 
the pail, in full view, and left the moulds behind it, as a 
tangible evidence of its existence and objectivity, after it 
had dematerialized. And, more wonderful still, moulds of 
the spirit faces are often left. As all this happens in full 
view of the audience, and as the moulds are certainly not 
produced by the medium himself (as may be readily proved 
by comparing the moulds and the medium's hands or face 



The Paraffine Mould Test 229 

after the seance), how are these phenomena to be ex- 
plained ? 

In a very simple manner. Let us say that several faces 
are to be materialized, and moulds formed thereon. A 
" spirit " issues from the cabinet — the room being very 
dimly lighted — and, leaning over the pail, dips his face into 
the paraffine three or four times (at least three times is neces- 
sary for the mould to retain its shape), and then into cold 
water, after which the spirit peels off this mask and hands it 
to one of the sitters, who finds it still wet and dripping. An- 
other spirit issues from the cabinet and repeats the perform- 
ance, the masks being apparently formed on the materialized 
spirit face before the very eyes of the sitters. As these faces 
are entirely unlike that of the medium, they are evidently 
not his. The conclusion arrived at by the sitter is that they 
are genuine, and formed then and there on the faces of the 
materialized spirits seen to issue from the cabinet. 

The trick is worked as follows. Before the seance, the 
medium has prepared a number of casts from plaster of 
paris moulds, these faces being allowed to thoroughly dry 
and harden before the seance. Now, when " the spirit " 
issued from the cabinet, it had, fitted over its face, one of 
these moulds. The spirit does not, in reality, dip its face 
into the paraffine at all, but does dip it into the cold water. 
The result of this is that the sitter gets the mould all wet 
and dripping, and infers that the face has been dipped in 
both pails, because it certainly has been dipped into the sec- 
ond one. That is the whole secret, except the actual mate- 
rialization of the spirit forms. That branch of the subject 
I treat in the two following chapters. 



CHAPTER XIII 



MATERIALIZATION 



The character of the ordinary " materializing seance " is 
probably well enough known to my readers to render any 
long description of it unnecessary in a volume such as the 
present. The medium is usually tied or otherwise fastened 
in his cabinet, while the remainder of the spectators sit out- 
side, in the seance-room, which is darkened more or less com- 
pletely. After a certain time, hands and faces are seen in 
various parts of the room, and even full, life-sized forms 
issue from the cabinet, and walk about among the sitters. 

That these figures are genuine and lifelike, and not mere 
hallucinations, can frequently be proved to the sense of 
touch, as the figures walk amongst the sitters, and speak to 
them, delivering messages from the dead who have gone be- 
fore, and in many ways proving that they are creatures of 
real flesh and blood for the time being, as truly as any of 
the sitters are. It is believed that the spirit is, in some way, 
enabled to draw " vital power " from the sitters, and es- 
pecially the medium, and utilize this power for the temporary 
upbuilding of a more or less material form, resembling the 
physical body of that person, when alive. After a time, this 
power wanes, and the figure fades or " dematerializes," some- 
times before the eyes of the sitters, leaving nothing behind 
to show that there has been present a figure or a body, 
which, but a short time before, gave evidence of being as 
material and as incapable of " dematerializing " as that of 
any of the sitters. Needless to say, if this fact of material- 
ization and dematerialization be a fact, it is one of the most 
extraordinary, as well as one of the most important that 



Materialization 231 

science has ever discovered, and one of the most difficult of 
solution that the man of science will ever be called upon to 
explain or solve. 

It is hardly necessary to remark that I have spoken of 
the phenomena presented as they appear to the sitter, and 
as spiritualists and mediums assert the phenomena actually 
are produced; and I have not attempted to assert that gen- 
uine materialization is not a fact. Whether or not such a 
phenomenon ever occurs, and the scientific attitude toward 
its a priori possibility, will be considered later in' the discus- 
sion. Certain it is that the history of modern spiritualism, 
and especially the history of materialization, does not afford 
us any valid grounds for assuming that this phenomenon is 
ever genuine, or anything more than the clumsy reproduc- 
tion, by fraud, of the phenomena genuine materialization 
would be supposed to represent. For, with hardly an excep- 
tion, all the professional mediums through whose agency 
these manifestations are supposed to be obtained, have, at 
one time or another, been found reproducing, or endeavoring 
to reproduce, the phenomena by fraudulent means. For 
those who wish confirmation of this statement, I would refer 
to Podmore's Modem Spiritualism, pp. 95-116 (Vol. II.), 
Heme, Williams, Miss Cook, Miss Showers, Eglinton, Doctor 
Monck, Miss Lottie Fowler, Miss Wood, Miss Fairlamb, Mrs. 
Anderson, Mrs. Mellon, the Eddys — to quote only a few of 
the names most widely known as materializing mediums — - all 
these rest under a heavy cloud of suspicion, if there is no 
proof that fraud was practised by them. The investigations 
of members of the S. P. R. went to prove that fraud and 
nothing but fraud was practised by all the mediums seen 
by them, in their numerous investigations. In Mrs. Sidg- 
wick's paper, " Results of a Personal Investigation into the 
Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism," * will be found much 
valuable information in regard to the mediums investigated 
at that time. The evidence in the cases of Miss Wood and 
Miss Fairlamb was particularly damaging. (Miss Fairlamb 
afterward became Mrs. Mellon, and it is by this name that 
1 Proceedings, Vol. IV., pp. 45-74= 



232 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

she is best known to the spiritualistic world. I shall, accord- 
ingly, call her by that name in the discussion that follows.) 
In fact the history of materializing mediums is so full of 
exposes, and the evidence of fraud so overwhelming and so 
constant, that, as the result of carefully considering the evi- 
dence in the case, and the personal histories of the various 
materializing mediums, William T. Stead (a spiritualist) 
could only say, writing in 1892, " The phenomena of spir- 
itualism, at least so far as relates to the materializing of 
spirits, seems to be much less frequent in London at present 
than they were some years ago. During these investigations 
I have made great efforts to obtain the services of a trust- 
worthy materializing medium who has not at any time been 
detected in fraud. There are three or four materializing 
mediums who give seances in London; but, whether from 
misfortune or their own fault, their names have all been asso- 
ciated at one time or another with the production of fraud- 
ulent phenomena. I am not now speaking of what is said by 
such opponents of spiritualistic phenomena as Doctor Weath- 
erly and Mr. Maskelyne. I am speaking of what has been 
communicated to me by fervent spiritualists, whom I have 
consulted, in the hope that they might be able to furnish me 
with the address of a trustworthy materializing medium. 
The net result of my inquiries came to this : that, in the whole 
of the United Kingdom, so far as was known to the spiritual- 
ist community, there was only one person of undoubted mate- 
rializing faculty and undoubted character who could almost 
always secure the presence of phenomena, and who had never 
been detected in a trick of any kind. ... I refer to Mrs. 
Mellon, late of Newcastle-on-Tyne, whose success as a mate- 
rializing medium is undoubted." 1 

This rather dubious and unsatisfactory evidence must be 
discounted, however, owing to two considerations. First, the 
most unsatisfactory nature of the evidence brought to light 
by Mrs. Sidgwick, in the paper previously referred to, in 
which fraud was strongly suggested, though not actually 
found ; and secondly, because Mrs. Mellon, of " undoubted 
1 More Ghost Stories, p. 54. 



Materialization 233 

character," was detected and caught red-handed, in produc- 
ing the grossest fraud, in a circle in Sydney, Australia ; and, 
though Mr. Stead and others tried to defend the medium in 
Borderland, and to show that the detection did not point to 
fraud at all, it is most obvious to any one carefully study- 
ing the evidence in the case that Mrs. Mellon did practise 
fraud, while the evidence points to the fact that she was in 
the habit of producing it constantly. 

The whole story will be found in a book entitled, Spook- 
land: A Record of Research and Experiment in the Much 
Talked of Realm of Mystery, etc., by T. Shekleton Henry, 
A. R. I. B. A. Here we read that, after a number of sit- 
tings with Mrs. Mellon, in which spirits materialized and 
were photographed, the sitters, believing that the so-called 
spirits were none other than Mrs. Mellon herself in various 
disguises, agreed to seize " the spirit," when it should mate- 
rialize at the next seance, and hold fast to the figure, and 
thus ascertain whether it was in truth a spirit form that 
was held, or the body of Mrs. Mellon herself. Accordingly, 
on the night of Friday, 12th of October, 1894, at a seance 
held in Mrs. Mellon's house, Mr. Henry suddenly seized the 
figure that issued from the cabinet, " and found that I held 
the form of Mrs. Mellon, and that she was on her knees, 
and had a white material like muslin round her head and 
shoulders. I can swear positively that when I seized the 
form Mrs. Mellon was on her knees. She struggled, but I 
held her firmly and called for the light to be turned up. 
Some one struck matches, and then I saw that Mrs. Mellon 
had a mask of black material over her face, and aforesaid 
white drapery round her shoulders, her sleeves drawn up 
above the elbows, the skirt of her dress turned up, and her 
feet bare. She was on her knees, and I held her in the posi- 
tion in which I had caught her. The matches were blown 
out, and I was assaulted by two or three men present, Mr. 
Mellon catching me by the throat and tearing off my necktie. 
I never let go my hold on Mrs. Mellon, however, until the 
gas in the back room was lit and turned full on, and every 
one present had an opportunity of seeing Mrs. Mellon in 



234 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the position and in the condition in which I had caught her. 
I looked inside the cabinet, and saw, lying upon the floor 
(inside the cabinet) a false beard. I called Mr. Roydhouse 
over, and he picked up the beard, but it was snatched from 
his hand. As soon as I relaxed my hold, Mrs. Mellon tore 
the black mask from her face and the drapery from her 
shoulders, and hid them under her petticoat. I then entered 
the cabinet, and found on the floor a small black shawl, 
some old muslin, Mrs. Mellon's shoes and stockings, and a 
small black cotton bag about nine inches square, with black 
tapes attached to it . . ." (pp. 50-1 ).* 

The exposure, in the case of Mrs. Mellon, then, seems to 
be about as complete as possible, and clearly shows that Mrs. 
Mellon was in the habit of producing phenomena of the 
kind constantly, and by the same means. And, if that is the 
case, then Mr. Stead's " unique " case vanishes, and the his- 
tory of materialization, so far as professional mediums are 

Nf * My readers who are unfamiliar with the history of the subject may 
think that this is a most out-of-the-way and unique occurrence. That is 
not by any means the case; those who think so might consult a book en- 
titled " The Vampires of Onset: Past and Present" containing numerous 
accounts of such " grabbings " of the spirit by skeptical sitters, parts of 
the book reading more like a description of a prize-fight than a spiritual- 
istic seance! I quote one case which is quite typical of a number: 

" Smash! Down came a black-jack on the head of a man who tried to 
force open the cabinet, which, by this time, was found to be barricaded 
by a heavy wooden partition and secured by means of a stout spring lock. 
It resisted the united efforts of three men who tried to kick it down. The 
two men who had been inside succeeded in dragging out the woman and 
stripped her of a cheap, cheese-cloth garment with an elastic neck-band 
and short sleeves of such a size as might be worn by a girl of sixteen. 

" Whack! Smash came a stove-lifter down on the head of a curiously 
disposed individual, while three or four sluggers in the employ of the es- 
tablishment made a grand rush to cut off further investigation. The man 
who did the clubbing was seen to be Cowen, the husband of the medium, 
and in his assaults he was joined by two other men, while the fourth con- 
tented himself with pulling and hauling at the investigating party. In all, 
a half-dozen blows with black-jacks and the stove-lifter were struck by 
Cowen and his ' Healers ' ( !) and one of the visiting party was badly cut 
on the neck, crown of the head, and over the right eye. The resistance 
made by Cowen was savage and persistent, and not until Officer Hensey 
of the 4th police division burst in the door and placed the ' twisters ' on 
Cowen's wrists did he desist from showing fight " (p. 14). This, it must be 
remembered, was at a spiritualistic seance, where, if ever, the most elevat- 
ing of all the soul's aspirations are supposed to be centred. Can it be 
wondered at that, so long as this kind of thing goes on, spiritualism is 
held in contempt by the public — whose sole knowledge of it is derived 
from newspaper accounts of such disgraceful occurrences as these? 



Materialization 235 

concerned, is practically one unbroken line of fraud, and 
this has been the more forcefully emphasized by the fact 
that the newest cases investigated by the S. P. R. have 
proved to be fraudulent. 1 A review of the evidence pro- 
cured by the Seybert Commission and the American Society 
for Psychical Research, 2 confirms this opinion ; while the ab- 
surdly uncritical attitude of many of the early investigators, 
a fair sample of which may be found in Olcott's People of 
the Other World (this being literally torn to pieces in a 
review by D. D. Home, the medium, in his book, Lights and 
Shadows of Spiritualism, pp. 301-28), may account for the 
extraordinary nature of many of the narratives recorded, 
and the lack of exposure in the early days of the subject. 

There are, in the whole history of the subject, only two 
cases that call for serious consideration (aside from those 
mentioned on pp. 237-8), these being the case of Miss 
Cook, and the case detailed at great length by M. Aksakof 
in his A Case of Partial Dematerialization of the Body of a 
Medium, he, indeed, devoting a whole book to a consideration 
of that case. The former of these I shall not stop to con- 
sider in detail here. That will be found discussed in Pod- 
more's Studies in Psychical Research, p. 120, and in his 
Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., pp. 97-9, and 153-5. As no 
detailed criticism of the latter case has ever appeared in 
print, so far as I am aware, it may be worth our while briefly 
to examine this case, which seems to stand out the more 
strongly amid the fraud disclosed in the other cases which we 
have just examined. 

The famous seance, which, as stated, M. Aksakof con- 
sidered sufficiently important to devote a whole book of 
nearly two hundred pages to, relates the occurrences of a 
seance that took place in Helsingfors, Finland, December 11, 
1893. The medium, Mme. D'Esperance, was seated in a 
chair, outside the cabinet, which was behind her, the sitters 
being in front of her in a sort of horseshoe formation. The 
light was very dim, so dim, in fact, that several of the sitters 

1 See Journal S. P. R., Vol. XII., pp. 266-8 and 274-7. 
* Amer. Proc. S. P. R. (old Society), pp. 102-3. 



236 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

asserted afterward that they could not see anything that 
transpired, having to depend almost solely on the sense of 
touch, when they were called up to examine the medium, as 
will be presently described. After some minor manifesta- 
tions, the medium stated that the lower part of her body had 
dematerialized, and that, whereas her head and the upper 
portion of her trunk was visible and tangible, her lower 
limbs, and the lower portion of her body had dematerialized 
and could no longer be seen or felt! Needless to say, such 
an astounding phenomenon caused considerable stir and 
some amount of skepticism amid the sitters in the circle. But 
the medium, to silence their doubts, invited them to come up 
and ascertain for themselves, and see whether or not this was 
the case. Several of the sitters availed themselves of this 
offer, and while they could distinctly see the upper portion 
of the medium's body in front of the chair on which she was 
sitting, and while the medium could talk, drink water, etc., 
the lower portion of her body had apparently dematerialized, 
being no longer visible, while the whole seat of the chair 
could be distinctly felt by the sitters, who were allowed to 
feel it with their hands. From the reports, there can be no 
reasonable doubt that the upper portion of the medium's 
body was really in front of the chair-back, nor can there 
be any doubt that the lower portion of her body was absent, 
and the legs not simply drawn back, e. g. 9 against the sides 
of the chair. The evidence would thus appear to be fairly 
conclusive, and it is only a detailed examination of the vari- 
ous reports that reveals the possibility of fraud, which, I be- 
lieve, was practised in this case, and the nature of which was 
evident to me the moment I had read them. 

The secret consisted (in all probability) in the following 
fact. The back of the chair was partially open, and of 
sufficient size to allow the medium to thrust her legs through 
as far as the hips, when the dress had been drawn up, and 
spread over the seat of the chair. The medium would, there- 
fore, be in a kneeling position behind the chair, with the 
upper part of her body in front of the chair-back, and, of 
course, visible to the investigators who made the examination. 



Materialization 237 

No one thought of looking behind the chair, (this is stated 
in the evidence), nor did any one, apparently, suspect the 
manner in which the medium was producing the " dematerial- 
ization." The evidence is to my mind absurdly inconclusive, 
and hardly worth consideration at all, from the strictly evi- 
dential standpoint. It is only because the case is made so 
much of by many spiritualists that I have deemed it neces- 
sary to consider it here at the length I have. 1 

It is possible, or, at least, conceivable that such a thing as 
genuine materialization exists as a fact in nature, though the 
available testimony must render us extremely wary in accept- 
ing evidence which would necessitate our accepting the phe- 
nomena of materialization as genuine and proved beyond 
doubt or cavil. It is conceivable that the ethereal body, 
described by many able writers on the subject, 2 may, under 
certain conditions, about which we at present know nothing, 
become visible and manifest to us in some such manner as 
by materialization, though, as stated, the lack of evidence 
for such phenomena renders all such speculations premature. 
Mr. Myers has beautifully worked out the scientific possi- 
bilities in his Human Personality, Vol. II., pp. 538-40 ; 
pp. 544-9, etc. It is true that Doctor Maxwell has recorded 3 
several most remarkable phenomena (luminous) which seem 
hard to account for by any process of trickery, phenomena 
strikingly similar to those recorded in Occult Science in 
India, p. 267. It is also true that Professor Richet has 
recently recorded a case of materialization, obtained under 
apparent test conditions, that is most extraordinary, 4 and 
that Sir William Crookes has seen and felt hands material- 
ized at seances with D. D. Home, which hands, Sir William 
explicitly stated, were not drawn away forcibly, but melted, 

1 My detailed analysis of this case, with diagrams, will be found in the 
Proceedings of the American Societvfor Psvchical Research, Vol. L, Part 1, 
March, 1907. 

2 See Elbe. Future Life in the Light of Ancient Wisdom and Modern 
Science ; H. Frank. A Scientific Demonstration of the Soul's Existence and 
Immortality; Delanne, Evidence for a Future Life; Myers, Human Per- 
sonality, etc. 

3 Metapsychical Phenomena, pp. 150-4. 

4 Annals of Psychic Science, October, November, 1905. 



238 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

as it were, in the hands of the sitter, when he continued to 
hold them (all this in good light), which fact, I may add, is 
confirmed by various other witnesses of the Home phenom- 
ena. 1 I do not deny any of these facts, or wish to depreciate 
the character or value of the evidence for these remarkable 
manifestations ; I only insist that there is not enough evi- 
dence of this character to warrant our speculating seriously 
on the nature of these facts, unless we know that they are 
facts. We need more positive evidence before speculation 
becomes valid. And the whole history of the subject is so 
besmirched with fraud that we should be particularly careful 
in accepting data obtained through the professional material- 
izing medium. One of the most remarkable cases I have ever 
read is that related by the Ven. Archdeacon Colley, 2 where a 
spirit was apparently seen to materialize from a cloud of 
vapor, which, in turn, is seen to issue from the medium's side. 
I know of no case which seems as remarkable as this one does, 
or that conveys to the reader's mind the impression that the 
facts narrated could not have been produced by fraud; and 
yet, Mr. J. N. Maskelyne, on October 8, 1906, at St. 
George's Hall, London, duplicated this phenomenon by 
fraudulent means alone. If so much can be accomplished by 
fraud we should certainly be most careful in accepting state- 
ments, and even the evidences of our senses, in this field. We 
should, at all events, be content to await further evidence 
before finally believing that such phenomena as these are 
other than frauds, or the results of trickery. 

It is necessary that we should now turn to a consideration 
of the actual methods that are employed by mediums to pro- 
duce the phenomena of materialization by fraudulent means. 
In order to render the subsequent explanations intelligible, 
I shall first quote a typical description of a materialization 
seance given by an eye-witness, from which description the 
reader may form a good idea of what occurs, and the detailed 

1 See Hardinge, Modern American Spiritualism, p. 106 ; Dialectical Re- 
port, p. 120; Owen, Debatable Land, pp. 351-2, etc. 

2 Annals of Psychic Science, December, 1905, pp. 392-9. 



Materialization 239 

explanations that follow will be rendered more easily intelli- 
gible than if I were to describe a series of phenomena, none 
of which were familiar to the general reader. 

" Everything now being in readiness, the medium seated 
himself in a chair, after first bringing a tambourine, guitar, 
tea-bell, tin trumpet, and a pair of castanets and depositing 
them inside the cabinet. After being seated he proffered 
some pieces of rope and stated that any one was at liberty 
to bind his hands and feet, or secure him in any way he saw 
fit, in order to preclude the possibility of his having the use 
of any of his members during the continuance of the seance. 
Again did the writer, in company with the only other skep- 
tical gentleman in the company, exert all his ingenuity in 
binding the medium so that he felt positively assured that 
he would still be in the chair when the seance was closed. 
After the tying was finished, the writer would have wagered 
any amount that it was an utter impossibility for the medium 
to free himself. . . . Medium and chair were now picked up 
and deposited in the cabinet, and the curtains drawn. 

" We had no more than reached our seats than the guitar 
was seen gyrating around in space over the top of the cab- 
inet, with no visible contact with anything. The light had 
been shaded until you could just distinguish the forms of the 
sitters, without being able to discern their features. After 
a few seconds, the guitar was joined by the tin trumpet, and 
out of it came a voice saying : 

" * I am the spirit-father of Mr. B , and my name is 

J B ,' giving his name in full. 

" This test was instantly recognized by one of the gentle- 
men, and there followed a commonplace message to his 

daughter-in-law, the wife of Mr. B , who was present. 

While this was transpiring, the guitar had disappeared into 
the cabinet again. As soon as the speaking had ceased, and 
the trumpet fallen to the floor, we were requested to examine 
the condition of things in the cabinet. Again the skeptics 
were permitted to do the investigating. We found the me- 
dium in precisely the condition in which we had left him at 
the beginning, it not appearing that he had stirred. 



240 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

" We had not reached our seats, which were distant about 
eight feet from the cabinet, when the guitar again made its 
appearance, and began playing an air of great beauty, the 
entire instrument being visible, but the hands that created 
the music upon it could not be seen. The music produced 
was subdued, soft, and sweet, as though the strings were 
being manipulated by very gentle, soft finger-tips. The 
skeptics were now very much interested. Again the horn 
joined the guitar, and when the latter had ceased its music, 

announced that its name was W E , son of Mr. and 

Mrs. E . The horn was correct again, and, after 

giving a message, in which he gave some instructions con- 
cerning his pony, that the parents still kept, the horn fell 
to the floor of the cabinet, and an examination disclosed 
everything as we had last seen it. The medium appeared 
to be in a trance or sleep, his eyes closed, teeth set, and 
breathing heavily. We had just turned our backs on the 
cabinet, after the examination, when a shapely white hand 
protruded through the opening in the curtains. Before we 
had seated ourselves there were two, three, four, all of 
different sizes, and doing considerable finger-snapping, thus 
doing away with the idea of rubber hands, stuffed gloves, etc. 
Then came a bare foot at the bottom of the curtain, and, 
in response to a request by one of the circle, the toes were 
wiggled. No one was allowed to touch the hands or feet 
that appeared, but it was evident to any one in possession of 
his five senses that they were human hands and feet and not 
rubber or wax, even did we not know that nothing of the 
kind had been carried in by the medium. After a few mo- 
ments of these manifestations, another examination of the 
cabinet and medium was made, and everything found satis- 
factory. Now, the tea-bell began ringing, and was soon 
joined by the castanets and tambourine. Ever and anon one 
or another of the instruments would swoop around above the 
cabinet and disappear again. They seemed to be flying 
about in all parts of the cabinet, and to be travelling with 
great swiftness and force; and it appeared as though the 
medium's eyes stood a very fair chance of being decorated 



Materialization 241 

in black! Another examination and everything found satis- 
factory. The writer was wavering, and was most intensely 
interested, to the great delight of his sister. The horn now 
requested that the company sing ' Sweet By and By.' 
Whilst the company was singing, they were joined by the 
horn in a deep and powerful voice, which claimed afterward 
that it was, at the time, ' John King,' the medium's main 
control. After the song was finished, a rustling noise was 
heard in the cabinet, and presently the curtains were agi- 
tated, and slowly a face presented itself at the opening. 
Plainly, it was a face, but it was not recognized. Then other 
faces appeared, but without recognition. Once more the 
guitar strikes up its music, and, during its continuance, the 
curtains open sufficiently to reveal to our astonished gaze 
a form, draped from head to foot in a dazzling white robe, 
in which there appeared to be a great many yards of mate- 
rial used. The face, in this instance, was much plainer, and 
in fact, was recognized by one of our number, who, however, 
said nothing until the form announced its name as Mrs. 

E L , mother of the lady sitting next to our host. 

The form spoke in a loud whisper, but no movement of the 
lips was visible. It stood stock-still, and might have been 
mistaken for a dummy were it not that the face was so abso- 
lutely identified by the lady it claimed as daughter, and the 
full name it gave being entirely correct. The form remained 
in sight for a period of about twenty seconds, and, after it 
had disappeared, the horn announced that the daughter car- 
ried the mother's watch, and that it contained the photo of 
her father. This the lady declared to be correct, and after 
the seance exhibited the watch, with the photo inside, and 
the name given by the spirit graven on the inside of the 
back lid. The lady declared that she had never before met 
the medium. 

" The props were being knocked from under the writer's 
materialism in beautiful shape! Other forms now presented 
themselves, and four of them recognized. One of the faces 
was an exact likeness to an uncle of the writer's, and he was 
almost paralyzed with astonishment, and ready to throw up 



242 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

his hands in surrender, when his sister, addressing the spirit, 
said: 

" ' Uncle L ' (for she, too, had recognized the face), 

6 have you anything to say to brother ? Tell him something 
to convince him.' The writer was just about to say that it 
required no more evidence to convince him of the possibility 
of spirit return, when the apparition spoke, saying : 

" ' Indeed, I should be pleased to grant the lady's request, 
but not being the spirit I am taken for, I cannot do so. I 

am the spirit of S W , and the cousin of Mrs. 

D .' 

" The lady named said she had never seen him in life, but 
there was a resemblance to a photograph of him in the 
family album. None of the forms or faces remained more 
than from five to twenty seconds. 

" Now, if this was the work of the medium, why did he not 
take the opportunity presented of palming off one of his 
dummies on one who had already accepted it as an uncle, and 
make an absolute test of it, instead of denying that it was the 
spirit supposed to be, and make an uncertain test of it ? This 
thought also struck the gentleman skeptic who assisted the 
writer in the examinations. 

" Occurring as it did, it certainly went far toward sustain- 
ing the medium as honest, and having no part in the pres- 
entation of the phenomena. Both skeptics were by this time 
pretty well hors dw combat. All that was now required was 
that some spirit friend or message present itself that could 
be recognized, and the ' turn was made.' The horn now 
made itself heard again, and began announcing the names 
of the spirits present. In all, about twenty were given, and 
eleven of them recognized. Among them were four full 
names of the author's deceased relatives, two of them giving 
date of death, and the cause thereof, and sending messages 
of love to members of the family not present, in each case, 
giving the name of the one the message was for. My sister 
informed me that she had never even heard of this particular 
medium before that week, and this was the first visit of any 



Materialization 243 

member of the family to him. The writer struck his arms 
and capitulated! 

" After another examination of the condition of things in 
the cabinet which resulted satisfactorily, there was a regular 
bedlam of noises begun, made by each one of the instruments 
setting out on an erratic aerial excursion about the confines 
of the cabinet. Occasionally, one or two of the instruments 
would dart up out of the top of the cabinet, and, after 
executing a few fantastic movements, go below and join the 
general rumpus on the inside. It was, apparently, impos- 
sible for the medium, even were he free, to put the instru- 
ments where they were seen; and besides this, the entire 
instrument was visible, and it was impossible to detect any- 
thing in connection with them, they seeming to float about 
the atmosphere as a balloon. Certain it was that the guitar 
could not perform on itself, and there was no human hand 
visible, to cause the vibration of the strings. 

" The only thing appearing strange, regarding the guitar, 
was that only one air was executed upon it. Immediately 
the rumpus ceased, another inspection of the cabinet was 
made, and everything found as it had been. The trumpet 
now requested that a writing-tablet and pencil be placed in 
the cabinet. This was done, and in a few minutes five mes- 
sages of greeting, from ' controls,' were handed out. One 
was in English, and signed by John King; another in 
French, another in German, another in Spanish, and the last 
in Hebrew, which no one present could read. It was taken 
next day, by the writer and others, to a Hebrew clothing 
dealer, who read and interpreted it with ease, and stated that 
it was elegantly written. The medium claimed to have no 
knowledge of any language save English, and was unable to 
speak that correctly, — which was a fact, for he did badly 
mangle the language every time he spoke. While we were 
waiting the thrusting out of the sixth sheet, the medium was 
heard to moan and yawn and move uneasily. In the course 
of a minute and a half, he called for light, and stepped out 
of the cabinet, freed from the ropes that had bound him less 
than two minutes before! An examination revealed the fact 



244 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

that the medium had not only slid out of the ropes, but that 
every knot had been untied, and the ropes lay in a heap in 
the corner. Think of it ! Something had untied the knots in 
less than two minutes, that (to tie) had required ten minutes 
of time of two men ! The instruments were handled and ex- 
amined, and found to be perfectly innocent of any mechan- 
ism not properly belonging to them, with the exception of a 
small hole, about the eighth of an inch in diameter, bored 
into the neck of the instrument, on the lower side and near 
the body of the guitar. The medium explained that it was 
for the purpose of attaching a music-holder to the instru- 
ment, and, as he was stopping with our host for the evening, 
he soon brought the holder and put it in position. It an- 
swered the purpose admirably, and satisfactorily explained 
the presence of the hole." 

In a seance such as the above, there are several factors 
that must be taken into consideration, requiring an ex- 
planation, they being independent and distinct from the 
" materialization proper," which alone concerns us in the 
present chapter. The methods of obtaining the " test in- 
formation " about the sitter are explained on pp. 312-18 ; 
the rope-tying manifestations I have explained in the chapter 
devoted to that subject, pp. 143-67; the self -playing 
guitar I have explained on p. 197 ; to the " messages " I 
shall again recur on p. 317 ; so that in the present chapter 
there remains for our consideration only the methods the me- 
dium employs in fraudulently producing the materialized 
hands, faces and forms. To this aspect of the problem I 
accordingly turn. I shall first of all describe the methods of 
obtaining the spirit hands and faces, leaving the more de- 
tailed and the more wonderful " full-form materializations " 
for later discussion. 

It need hardly be stated that many of the " materialized 
hands " seen at seances are none other than the medium's 
own. Under cover of the intense darkness that is always 
called for when materializations of the kind are seen, the 
medium releases himself from his bonds, and does his own 
" spirit touches " merely by walking about the room and 



Materialization 245 

touching one or other of the sitters, either with his bare 
hand, or after donning a glove dipped in cold water, to give 
a cold, clammy effect to the sitter experiencing the touch. 
This is a device frequently employed. In many cases the 
medium rubs over the surface of the glove with luminous 
paint, this giving the effect of a bright, shining hand, float- 
ing in space, since the performer, if entirely dressed in black, 
is quite invisible in the darkness. (Those of my readers who 
doubt the fact that any figure dressed in this manner would 
be absolutely invisible should witness the public performance 
of an act known as " Black Art," in which the performer's 
assistants walk freely about the stage, which is entirely 
darkened, and produce the many marvellous effects witnessed. 
The illusion is perfect, and no one witnessing the perform- 
ance, and not knowing how the effects are produced, can 
detect the method of operation, no matter how closely he may 
watch the stage.) 

Some mediums make use of the damp kid glove, just de- 
scribed, in a very clever manner. They stuff the glove, and 
attach the back of the hand to the small end of the telescopic 
rod, mentioned on p. 196. By moving the rod about in 
various directions, touching the sitters with the glove, they 
are enabled to produce the phenomenon of " spirit touches " 
at a great distance from themselves, and in places where it 
would be impossible for them to reach, even were they free. 
A still more astonishing phenomenon may be produced by 
attaching the glove to the rod by means of a piece of stout 
black silk thread, about a yard or so in length. Now, by 
waving the rod about in various directions, the glove is 
given a great range, and moves so rapidly, moreover, that 
several sitters may feel the touch of the hand at the same 
instant (practically), which would, of course, have the effect 
of several hands all active at the same time. The hand may 
or may not be made luminous, in this case, as desired. 

Mr. J. H. W. Shaw describes a very effective variation of 
the method just described in his Magic and Its Mysteries, 
pp. 55-6. The effect, in this case, is this : after the medium 
is securely tied in the chair, a luminous hand slowly mate- 



246 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

rializes, only the tips of the fingers at first being visible, but 
afterward the whole hand comes into view, until the arm up 
to the elbow is seen. It now suddenly disappears and as 
suddenly appears again, finally vanishing altogether. 

The effect is produced, in this case, by the following 
means. The medium has secreted about his person a glove 
made of black material, the palm of which is coated with 
luminous paint, and the rest of the hand and arm is also 
painted very lightly with it. To the elbow of this glove is 
sewn a cylinder of thick, black cloth, of sufficient length to 
completely cover the hand and arm when pulled over it. Be- 
fore the seance begins the medium gives the glove a coat of 
paint, as stated, pulls the cylinder up over the glove, and 
secretes it about his person. At the proper time the medium 
dons the glove, which is still invisible because of the covering 
black-cloth cylinder. Slowly, the medium pulls this off 
toward the shoulder, thereby disclosing the hand and 
arm, the palm of which is turned to the sitters. Now, by 
suddenly pulling the black cloth over the hand again, the 
medium is enabled to produce the phenomenon of material- 
ization and dematerialization as often as desired. 

The famous (or rather infamous) Doctor Monck was in 
the habit of producing a very remarkable manifestation, a 
materialized spirit hand, that of a baby, in partial light, and 
when the medium was sitting at the table together with the 
other sitters. Doctor Monck would sit at one end of the 
table, when presently the table-cloth would be seen to move, 
and from beneath the table would come the tiny hand, which, 
after a few seconds' visibility, would suddenly dematerialize, 
and a thorough search under the table would fail to reveal 
the clue to the mystery. " Professor Hoffmann," in a Note 
to his translation of Houdin's Secrets of Stage Conjuring, 
gives (pp. 220-1) a description of this test and an expose 
of the manner in which the trick was performed. He says, in 
part: 

" A dummy hand of small size, with the fingers slightly 
bent, is attached to a piece of broad elastic about three feet 
in length. This in turn is fastened to a belt round the per- 



Materialization 247 

former's waist, and thence passes down (say) his left trouser 
leg, the hand reposing, when not wanted, within the gar- 
ment, a few inches above the ankle. To the wrist of the 
hand is appended a kind of elastic sleeve of five or six inches 
in length. (In Monck's case, if we remember rightly, it con- 
sisted of the upper portion of an ordinary sock.) The me- 
dium, thus prepared, takes his seat at one side of a square 
table, with an overhanging table-cover, allowing no one else 
to be seated at the same side of the table. . . . Some one 
present is requested to lower the gas. 6 A little lower, 
please. A little lower yet,' till, as a natural consequence, it 
goes out altogether. 6 Dear me,' says the medium, ' I am 
extremely sorry ! I did not intend you to turn it out. Pray 
light it again ! ' This is done and it is again lowered but 
this time only to a dim twilight. Meanwhile, under cover of 
the momentary darkness, the medium has quietly crossed his 
left foot over his right knee, pulled down the dummy hand, 
slipped the sleeve portion over the toe of his left shoe, and, 
with the foot masked by the table-cover, calmly bides his 
time. Presently, on the right hand of the medium, some- 
thing is seen to be moving under the table-cover, making 
apparent efforts to come out. The medium, at the same 
time, prepares the minds of the spectators by declaring that 
he sees a hand floating about, that it has touched him, and 
so on. Presently, he gradually draws his foot, still crossed 
over the right knee, from under the table-cover, and allows 
the hand to show itself just above the surface. . . . Doctor 
Monck went so far as to offer a set of i fairy bells ' to the 
touch of the spirit hand, and, partly by scraping the hand 
against the wires (or rather the wires against the hand), 
and partly by a judicious use of his own fingers, produced 
sounds which, though not particularly harmonious, passed 
muster fairly enough as the production of a hand without a 
body. The manifestation over, the performer has only to 
place the left foot on the ground, and, with the other foot, 
dislodge the dummy hand, which is forthwith spontaneously 
drawn back by the elastic band beneath the sheltering 



248 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

trouser. The gas being turned up, skeptical gentlemen may 
search beneath the table, but in vain." 

When hands appear above the top of the cabinet, or other- 
wise beyond the normal reach of the medium, it is either a 
stuffed glove that is exhibited, or a glove that is attached 
to the end of the medium's telescopic rod, and made to open 
and close by the medium blowing through the hollow rod, 
causing the glove to alternately fill out and relapse into 
" flabby nothingness," according to the amount of air forced 
into the rod and glove. In a dim light, this has a very good 
effect. Then, again, the medium often makes use of simple 
pieces of cardboard, painted black, upon each of which is 
painted a hand in white. By exhibiting this hand at the top 
of the cabinet, and at the same time snapping his own fingers, 
he can produce the effect of the hand itself causing this 
sound, thus proving, not only its objective reality, but the 
fact that it is made of flesh and blood! Several hands can 
be made to appear in like manner, at the same time, the me- 
dium attaching them to his rod, by means of a slot in the 
end of it. 

Some ingenious medium devised the following plan, by 
which the hand may be made to move, apparently, to open 
and close, e. g.> or to snap the fingers. This proves to every 
sitter conclusively that the hands are real, for what but real 
hands can move in that manner? The secret consists in the 
fact that the medium has painted on both sides of his black- 
ened card a hand in white, these hands being painted in dif- 
ferent postures. The medium simply slips the cardboard 
into the slot in the end of his telescopic rod, as before de- 
scribed, and exhibits, first one side and then the other of the 
painted card. If the half -turn is made quickly enough, it 
is quite invisible to the sitters, and the effect of the turn is 
to produce a complete illusion in the minds of the sitters that 
the hand has itself moved before their eyes. If the sup- 
posed card is painted to represent the fingers snapping, the 
medium snaps his own, and the spirit hand is supposed to 
have produced the sound! 

If the hands felt at a seance are unmistakably human, 



Materialization 249 

then the sitter may rest assured that they are either those 
of the medium, who has in some manner managed to release 
himself from his holds or ties, or those of some confederate, 
such confederates being frequently introduced in seances of 
this character as will presently appear. 

We now pass on to consider the methods that are employed 
by the medium in order to produce " full-form materializa- 
tion," in which figures are seen to issue from the cabinet, 
while the medium is securely tied and otherwise fastened to 
his chair within it. These forms are almost invariably clothed 
from head to foot in dazzling white garments, and the ques- 
tion at once arises, where did the medium (supposing it to 
be he, disguised, and parading about the seance-room) ob- 
tain all the material and other portions of the make-up, since 
he was thoroughly searched before he entered the cabinet, 
and nothing of such a nature was found upon him? Even 
granting that the medium was enabled to release himself in 
some manner from the cords that tied him to his chair, and, 
disguising himself, enter the seance-room and act the part of 
some spirit, how did he obtain possession of the white drap- 
ery and other material in which the spirit was clothed? The 
fact that the medium was thoroughly searched just before 
the seance, and no such " properties " found upon him, would 
seem to show that it was not and could not be the medium ; 
and any fraud on his part was consequently out of the ques- 
tion. How mistaken this idea is we shall now see. 

There are many ways in which clothes may be smuggled 
into the cabinet by the medium, without the sitters being 
aware of the fact, or suspect that any trickery is being prac- 
tised upon them. One of the most ingenious devices is the 
following, which has been used by mediums for many years 
past, and which is still very largely employed. On p. 197 
I described a self -playing guitar, the secret being that it 
contained a music-box, which, when wound up and set going, 
would play a tune without necessitating any fingering of the 
strings by the medium. That, however, is only half the 
secret of the guitar, for, besides the music-box, the guitar 
also contained a sliding panel, opening into a hollow com- 



250 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

partment in the interior, and in tins compartment are placed 
the robes and other paraphernalia employed by the medium 
in dressing up as the spirit he purports to be. These robes 
are made of a sort of fine netting, and are capable of being 
compressed into a remarkably small space, the full costume of 
an adult spirit folding into a space no larger than a good- 
sized watch. Indeed, these robes are sometimes carried in 
this manner instead of the guitar. The watch is a dummy, 
is hollow, and is filled with the costumes for the evening's 
seance! At other times this material is carried in a purse, 
a letter, or in many other ways that will suggest themselves. 
One method frequently employed is that of placing the mate- 
rial in the hollow boot-heel. The heel of the shoe is made of 
steel, being, in fact, a sort of hollowed out box, covered over 
with leather, and blackened to imitate the regular shoe. Usu- 
ally, however, the medium carries a series of netting masks in 
this heel, these also folding up into a very small compass. If 
the medium gives the seance in his own house, there are, of 
course, many ways of gaining possession of the requisite 
material, — hollow chair-seats, table-legs, etc., forming con- 
venient receptacles for the robes and other paraphernalia 
used in the seance. 

Mr. Lunt, in his little book, Mysteries of the Seance, has 
described a method he has found used by female mediums 
to evade the watchfulness of searchers, in cases where the 
medium, as a test, is obliged to don the all-black clothes pro- 
vided by the sitters. It is this: 

" Some female mediums have a novel arrangement by 
which they can carry into the cabinet all the supplies they 
want, in spite of the strictest search. For instance, one has 
a black cloth belt made deep enough to hold a great variety 
of stuff. This is worn around the waist next the skin, and 
held in place by an elastic band. Over this is the usual black 
skirt, then the other clothing. When the committee of ladies 
search her, she entirely disrobes down to this black skirt, 
which she retains ' for modesty's sake,' until the skirt pro- 
vided by the committee is put on over it. Then the black 
skirt is unhooked and taken off. This leaves her supposedly 



Materialization 251 

clothed only in the committee's clothing, which of course is 
all dark. To satisfy them that all is right she lifts the last 
skirt as high as possible, and shows the bare skin, and the 
presence of the useful little belt is not suspected. The rest 
of the clothing provided is donned, and the performance 
goes on with the greatest success" (pp. 32-3). From the 
description and remarks on p. 44 of Henry's Spookland, it 
appears to me highly probable that Mrs. Melon used some 
such device as the above. 

The modus operandi of the ordinary materializing seance 
should now be pretty clearly denned in the sitter's mind. 
The medium is not usually fastened in his cabinet; and if 
he is tied, or otherwise secured, he releases himself by one 
or other of the methods before enumerated. Then he pro- 
ceeds to dress himself up in the robes, etc., he has managed 
to smuggle into the cabinet by one means or another, as de- 
scribed. When the robes are properly adjusted, the medium 
dons the wig, mask, etc., that is appropriate for the char- 
acter he is to portray, and boldly walks into the room and 
asserts that he is that individual ! * If his voice is one that 
is easily disguised, the medium makes bold to speak aloud; 
otherwise the " spirit " confines its conversation to loud whis- 
pers. The more dramatic the play the better, of course, up 
to a certain extent, though the medium who knows his busi- 
ness will always remember that spirits should conduct them- 
selves with becoming gravity. A certain amount of " the 
actor " must enter into any medium who makes a success of 
his profession. Darkness, the dramatic setting of the seance, 
and suggestion can be depended upon to do the rest. I have 
more fully elaborated this branch of the subject in my 
chapter on the Psychology of Deception, and it is not neces- 
sary for me to consider it at any great length now. My 
object for the moment is to show how these forms are actu- 
ally produced, and not their possible significance. I have 

1 In some cases, it is impossible for the medium to escape — when, e. g., 
he is fastened in a cage provided by a committee. In that case, he frees 
himself as much as possible, and shows a variety of masks, robes, etc., 
through the curtains, — these being attached to the end of his telescopic 
rod and thrust between the bars of the cage and the cabinet curtains. 
Some very effective figures can be created in this way. 



252 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

described other methods of materialization, and other devices 
on pp. 268-75. 

It remains for me but to consider certain materialization 
phenomena which we have not so far discussed, such, e. g. t 
as the production of " spirit lights," " apports," etc. To 
these I now turn. Spirit lights may be produced in a variety 
of ways, one of the simplest being the following, a method 
very frequently employed. 

The medium procures a bottle, or flask, holding about two 
pints. Into this he drops the heads of about one hundred 
parlor matches ("red-heads"), and over these is poured 
just enough water to cover them, and a little more. The 
flask is now kept tightly corked for some time. When the 
medium requires to produce his spirit lights, he brings forth 
this bottle, and, while slightly shaking it, removes the stopper 
a very little, when the portion of the bottle that is filled with 
the fumes will present a very beautiful phosphorescent ap- 
pearance. If a transparent wire mask be held before the 
bottle, it will be greeted as a spirit face by the sitters, and 
very likely recognized by one or more of them as a dead 
relative! (v. p. 52). By simply moistening the fingers and 
rolling a match between them, a very fine effect is produced, 
though the light is, of course, small. Spirit lights of dif- 
ferent sizes and shapes are made by cutting out pieces of 
cloth of the shape required, and pasting them on cardboard. 
These are painted with luminous paint after the manner 
described on p. 269. They are attached to the end of the 
telescopic rod, so often spoken of throughout this book, and 
moved about over the sitters' heads. The manner of pro- 
ducing luminous hands, arms, and faces will be presently 
described. The methods the medium will resort to are in- 
numerable. It is even asserted that some mediums have had 
the hardihood to introduce fireflies into the seance-room, as 
a means of producing these effects ! 

Just recentty, some ingenious medium has devised a 
method by which it is possible to produce luminous names, 
apparently flashed out of the air, with lightening-like rapid- 



Materialization 253 

ity and brilliancy. This clever test is performed as follows. 
The names are cut out of tin-foil and pasted on a sheet of 
clear glass, care being taken to connect each letter with the 
next. When all is ready, a wire from a powerful battery 
is connected with the beginning and terminal of the tin-foil, 
and a brilliant flash will light up all the lines for an instant. 
The battery may be concealed in a distant place, and two 
fine wires in the seance-room could be easily concealed. For 
the secret of this clever test I am indebted to Mr. E. D. Lunt, 
of Boston. 

I now turn to a consideration of certain phenomena of 
materialization in which solid bodies, other than human be- 
ings, are produced in the seance-room, they being generally 
left there " by the spirits " as a proof of their objective 
reality. In all these cases, the seance is a dark one, and 
when the lights are turned up, certain objects are seen on 
the table of the seance-room which certainly were not there 
before, and the conclusion drawn is that the spirits brought 
them thither. The explanation generally offered is that the 
spirits dematerialized the objects, wherever they happened 
to be at the time, conveyed them in that semi-material, vapor- 
ous condition into the seance-room, and again " integrated " 
or materialized them there. This is the orthodox explanation 
for phenomena that are technically known as " apports." 

Without now stopping to consider any a priori specula- 
tions as to the scientific possibility or impossibility of such 
a thing; the mere historic evidence in the case would cer- 
tainly seem to point to the conclusion that fraud and nothing 
but fraud has been operative throughout, and is quite suffi- 
cient to account for all the phenomena observed (save in the 
case of W. S. Moses, perhaps, that stumbling-block to the 
rationalistic psychical researcher), in the presence of pro- 
fessional mediums. Only some mediums produced these phe- 
nomena ; D. D. Home did not believe in them ! Some famous 
historical cases are absurdly simple of explanation, as, e. g., 
the " Great Materialized Stone," described on pp. 129-32 of 
Truesdell's Spiritualism, Bottom Facts. In fact all these 



254 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

cases sift themselves down to the one primary consideration : 
could the medium, in spite of the searching, have introduced 
into the seance-room, unseen by his sitters, the objects mate- 
rialized? On thinking the matter over, it will become ap- 
parent to my reader that this is, after all, the only question 
involved, and, in the face of the damning historical evidence, 
no less than because of the obvious simplicity of smuggling 
objects into the seance-room undetected, it must be admitted 
that the proof that these phenomena have ever occurred in 
a genuine manner is so remote as to hardly be worth serious 
consideration. 

Take, e. g., the cases where live creatures, fresh flowers, 
" with the dew still on them," etc., have been imported into 
the seance-room. If the seance is held in the medium's own 
house, the objects may very well be slipped into the seance- 
room through some trap door or sliding panel, such as will 
presently be described in full. Or the flowers may be con- 
tained in the hollow seat of some empty chair, sofa, etc., the 
medium simply securing them, when required, and spraying 
them with water to imitate dew before placing them on the 
table. At other times a confederate has the flowers hidden 
about his or her person. If the medium is not searched be- 
fore the seance, his part is, of course, an easy one. Female 
mediums produce this class of phenomena much more fre- 
quently than males, their dress serving as a convenient hid- 
ing-place for many of the " apports " that appear later on. 
In any case, the flowers are obtained as fresh as possible, 
sprayed with water, and placed in a black cloth bag until 
wanted by the medium. It only remains to be said, in con- 
nection with this phenomenon of flower-production, that the 
flowers have frequently been traced by investigators to the 
shop where they were purchased, and it was thus proved 
beyond question that the medium had purchased them there 
but a short time before the seance ! This fact failed to shake 
the belief of " the faithful," however, who still continued to 
believe in the medium's honesty, and to protest against such 
methods of " persecution ! " 



CHAPTER XIV 

materialization (Continued) 

I now turn to consider those cases of " full-form material- 
ization," in which the medium is seen, securely bound, seated 
in his cabinet, when the materialized figures are walking 
about the room. I quote this description from The Revela- 
tions of a Spirit Medium, since it seems to me very fine in- 
deed. The account reads, in part, as follows: 

" Reader, have you ever attended a ' seance ' for s full- 
form materialization? ' Have you ever thought you had 
met your dead relative's spirit at these c seances ? ' 

" If you have never had the pleasure of attending a seance 
of this s phase ' you have missed a rare treat. The writer 
has assisted at many a one and will relate to you some of 
the wonderful phenomena occurring at them and the means 
used to produce them. . . . There are hundreds of ' mate- 
rializing mediums ' doing business in this country, who are 
swelling a good-sized bank account. Their business some- 
times runs into the hundreds of dollars in a single week. 
This ' phase ' of mediumship is considered by the spiritual- 
ists as the highest possible attainable, and if you are a clever 
* full-form medium ' your financial welfare is assured. . . . 
Many and various are the methods employed by the different 
1 mediums ' in producing this phase. It is in Boston, New 
York, and San Francisco that it is worked the finest. The 
full-form seances most often met with are very simply 
worked, and easy of performance by the medium. You are 
usually given a seat in a circle of chairs about the front of 
a c cabinet ' made by hanging heavy curtains across the cor- 

255 



256 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

ner of the room. If you are a stranger or one who looks or 
acts as though he would ' grab ' the ' spirits,' you are 
seated at the farthest point from the cabinet; or, if there 
are two rows of seats, you will be given a seat in the back 
row. . . . Many persons recognize their friends in some of 
the * make-ups ' of the medium. The writer has masqueraded 
as a spirit scores of times and been recognized by three or 
four different persons at the same seance as brother or father 
and even mother! 

" Very little apparatus is necessary to make several 
changes in your appearance in the dim light that is fur- 
nished you to investigate by. The one robe answers for 
forty spirits, and, with two or three wigs and beards of 
different shapes, the color amounts to nothing, as it is so 
dark you cannot distinguish red from any color save white; 
a crown, a cap or two, a piece of chalk, and you can, by 
changing your height by stooping, and getting on your 
knees to represent children, produce quite an army of 
spirits, each differing in appearance from any other. 

" A large ' spirit ' leading a child can be produced by the 
medium stepping out and holding at arms' length a piece 
of white robe cloth. She has no other white on the arm that 
is supporting the child. Her dress being dark and the cur- 
tain behind it dark, the arm is not seen and the child appears 
separate and apart from the large ' spirit.' Of course no 
handling is allowed, and, for all you can see, the shape is 
a child. The medium simulates child's talk and the child is 
supposed to have spoken. 

" When there are present a very particular lot of sitters 
the medium allows the ladies to search her and takes off all 
her white skirts. The manager loads up with the appara- 
tus, and after the light has been turned down, he either passes 
it inside as he sits in his chair, or the medium puts her hand 
out from underneath and takes it from under his coat. If 
he sit in an upholstered chair, there is no end to the appara- 
tus she can lay her hands on. It is ready for her at any 
time after the chair is in its place, whether her manager is 
in it or not. Where an upholstered chair is used, the medium 



Materialization 257 

can have several different costumes. No one thinks of search- 
ing the manager or chair. 

" There are no such things as rubber spirits that are blown 
up, although many hundreds of persons think there are. 3 
You frequently hear of spirits materializing from the floor, 
and again disappearing through the floor outside the cab- 
inet. In this deception you will notice the floor is covered 
with a very dark carpet. When the medium desires to make 
her appearance through the floor she first puts on a glove 
that reaches her shoulder, and one that is about the same 
color as the carpet, or darker. She now takes in her hand a 
piece of the white netting that, when shaken out, is about 
three yards long and one yard or forty-two inches wide. 
This is easily concealed by the hand when it is rolled into 
a ball. She now gets down on the floor inside the cabinet 
with her head-gear on, and, crawling as far as the front of 
the curtains will permit, thrusts out her arm as far as she 
can reach in front of the cabinet and on the floor. Her hand 
and arm cannot be seen. The white netting will show when 
she turns her hand over, appearing a white spot. She begins 
to shake it loose and the spot appears to grow. She con- 
tinues to shake and release the netting, raising her hand all 
the while, until it is about four feet high, when, with one big 
flounce, she darts from the cabinet and, pulling the netting 
about her, there is your spirit. If she desires to depart 
through the flood, she gets partially into the cabinet, and, 
getting hold of the netting so that she can dodge behind it, 
she suddenly raises it above her head-gear and dodges be- 
hind the curtains. She now allows the netting to drop to 
the floor and slowly gathers it into her hand, when she so 
suddenly takes it into the cabinet that, in the dim light, it 
seems to fade into the air. 

" There are several methods of materializing a spirit from 

the floor, and the different ways will be given. The manner 

just described is very effective, and, in the dimly lighted 

room, is very well calculated to deceive. There are better 

1 This is a mistake. On p. 35 of his Tricks in Magic (Vol. I.), Mr. Bur- 
lingame describes a method of producing spirit-materialization in this 
manner. It is doubtless a method seldom or never used, however. 



258 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

methods that will be described later on when writing of the 
seances of more skilful mediums. 

" The seance just described is the work of the ordinary 
medium, one who is not at all clever, and who depends rather 
upon the gullibility of her ' sitters ' than the excellence of 
her work to pull her through. She will get along and make 
money though, even if her work is raw and bungling. 

" The writer has often been amazed that the mediums put- 
ting up this work should ever give a second seance in the 
same city. However, he was not looking with an unpractised 
eye or in ignorance of the methods and movements of the 
medium, and of course could see many things that the in- 
vestigator would not observe. After all, it is not always the 
excellence of the work so much as the ignorance of the ob- 
server that makes many things appear wonderful. Persons 
who give this description of seance sometimes catch some 
very nice ' suckers.' 

" What is meant is that some gentleman who is either 
wealthy or earning a large salary will become interested, and, 
finally convinced that 8 spirits ' do return and materialize, 
will be a constant attendant at the seances of this particular 
medium. When such a man is caught by the medium, plans 
are laid to relieve him of his wealth, or a goodly portion of 
it. The spirits give him to understand that they can work 
much better when he is present, and that the Princess So- 
and-so, his soul mate or affinity, is always at the seances to 
meet him. This affinity princess is supplied with an elegant 
costume that will glitter with tinsel and gems. She will wear 
a white crown (signifying purity) on the front of which 
blazes a star, indicative of the advanced sphere in which she 
exists in spirh; life. This princess will conduct herself very 
much like an ordinary mortal, in the private seances she 
induces him to obtain from the medium, at twenty-five or 
more dollars per seance, at which time he is always welcomed 
with a royal kiss and embrace, and will sit on his lap a half- 
hour at a time, telling him of the beauties of spirit life, and 
the home they are to occupy together when he comes to her 
side of life. These loving actions are not always confined 



Materialization 259 

to private seances, but the writer has been present when a 
gentleman met his royal spirit lover, and kisses and em- 
braces were indulged in in the presence of a public circle 
of as many as twenty persons. He would call her ' pet,' 
1 darling,' ' sweetheart,' and other endearing names, until 
he made the writer most outrageously 4 tired.' Others were 
' tired,' too, j udging from the smothered exclamations heard 
in various parts of the room. 

" When he has arrived at the kissing and embracing point, 
he is ready to pluck. There are various ways of doing this. 
He is given to understand by the spirit lover that her ' me- 
dium ' must have certain things that she will not herself pur- 
chase, in order that ' conditions ' be made more perfect, for 
their communing together. No sooner is this left-handed 
request made, than a check is written and the ' spirit ' sees 
to it that 6 her medium ' gets it. There are a great many 
things, now, found necessary to secure better conditions, and 
a great many checks written, ranging from ten to two or 
three hundred dollars. When he has been bled until he will 
stand it no longer, or has no more money, his princess tells 
him she must return to her heavenly sphere again, not to 
return for a number of years ; or he is sent to Europe on a 
fool's errand, to find something or to take his place in her 
family. If it is the latter, he is, no doubt, speedily shown 
the door, and possibly kicked through it. The reader may 
think that such a thing has never transpired, but it has. 
The man, in this case, appeared a thorough gentleman, and 
was certainly educated and intelligent enough to make con- 
siderable money. He is now * broke.' . . . These love-affairs 
between mortal and spirit have even gone on to a termination 
in marriage, an account of which will be given later on. The 
writer knows all the details of this case, as he was an ac- 
quaintance of one of the ' spirits ' who brought it about, 
and also partook of the wedding supper that was given in 
honor of the occasion, at the bridegroom's expense. . . . 

" It sometimes happens that the victim discovers the game 
that is being worked on him after he has been swindled out 
of hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars. Does he ever 



260 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

prosecute the medium or attempt to recover any of the 
money? Not one time in ten thousand. Why? Simply be- 
cause he has a reputation to sustain. He is at the head of 
a large business and it would not do at all to have his es- 
capade become public property. He has the reputation of 
being a brainy individual by hundreds of persons, and would 
rather give up twice the amount he has been swindled out 
of than to have his friends and business associates know what 
an ass he has made of himself. . . .* 

" The reader is aware that the only difficulty the material- 
izing medium encounters is the getting into the cabinet of 
the apparatus and costumes used. The manager and chair 
method has been described, but there are others. One of 
them is to make a trap in the base or mopboard and stow 
the apparatus behind it. ... A small trap can be made in 
the floor and your carpet so laid that you can turn back 
enough of it to get at the trap. These traps will be described 
in detail later on. 

" Another way is to have a small snare-drum in your cab- 

1 Another method of fraudulently obtaining money from a sitter is to 
persuade him that he possesses great *' mediumistic power" — which 
should be developed. For these u developing seances " the sitter, of course, 
pays — all he can afford, in most cases. 

" One of the most prolific sources of revenue for the dishonest medium," 
says Mr. Lunt (Mysteries of the Seance, p. 44), " is the ' development ■ 
scheme. Everywhere they go they find many persons who are easily 
persuaded to believe that they possess mediumistic gifts of a high order. 
In case some other medium has already told the person this — and it is 
rarely you can find one who has not been told so by nearly all the mediums 
he has consulted — it is not hard to convince him that, by proper develop- 
ment, he can acquire wonderful powers as a psychic. . . . Consequently 
he is induced to take ' development ' sittings, which cost from fifty cents 
to five dollars per sitting, according to his anxiety and ability to pay. . . . 
He is kept on the string until he quits in disgust, or until the medium 
leaves town." The fact~is that the medium has all the way from ten to 
five hundred or more persons developing at one time, in a certain town, 
and keeps them all " developing " until signs of dissatisfaction begin to 
manifest themselves in a large number of the sitters. Then, all at once, 
the sitters find that the medium has " skipped the town," — fled to pas- 
tures new. — and there is not a trace of his whereabouts to be found any- 
where! He has set up the developing business in another town after 
first recommencing business as a medium, under another name. The methods 
that are often employed by mediums of this class will be found recorded 
in The Revelatwns of a Spirit Medium, pp. 214-16. The absurd directions 
that are given to the sitter will be found detailed in the Seybert Com- 

sion's Report, pp. 124-7. 



Materialization 261 

inet for the use of your ' drum boy control.' In it can be 
kept all the laces and netting used by the medium. 

" A small table is sometimes placed in one corner of the 
cabinet on which is kept slates and pencils, lead-pencils, writ- 
ing-tablets, and a pitcher of water. This table contains a 
drawer that is locked, apparently, but the medium needs no 
key, for he or she enters it from below. This drawer, it 
is needless to say, contains all the apparatus needed. This 
table could also be very much in the way if you attempted 
to ' grab.' 

" When the cabinet used is a closet, the most convenient 
place for a trap is the door-framing. You can take off 
the piece that makes the facing and hinge it so that it swings 
open from the floor to the top of the door, thus getting rid 
of a joint that may result in your detection. 

" Xow you will be treated to a description of a seance 
given by a male medium, and where you will get your 
money's worth. The manifestations in this case are the work 
of an artist in his line who is in the business for the money 
he can get, and is doing his best to give satisfaction. The 
medium is a member of the Brotherhood, and is sure to have 
the freshest of everything. The writer will describe the 
seance as though he were an investigator, and will assume 
the personality of one who received just what he will de- 
scribe as occurring to himself. Afterward it will be ex- 
plained to you so that it will not puzzle you to account for 
many things you have yourself witnessed or heard of others 
experiencing. . . . 

" I made my way to the e materializing seance,' at which 
my friends hoped to materialize. I was admitted to the 
seance-room and found about twenty persons already assem- 
bled. I was seated in the front row of chairs. The cabinet 
used was a closet about six feet long and four feet wide. 
The ceiling of both the room and the cabinet was of wood. 
After a thorough examination had been made of the cabinet 
by all those who cared to do so, the sitters were rearranged 
to suit the medium. There were present now thirty-five per- 



262 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

sons. The seance-room was very large. The door had been 
taken off the closet that served as a cabinet, and in its stead 
were hung heavy curtains. The floor of the room was car- 
peted with a dark carpet, as was the cabinet. The light was 
furnished by a lamp placed in a box that was fastened to 
the wall some eight feet from the floor. This box had a 
sliding lid in front, controlled by a cord passing into the 
cabinet. By this means the ' spirits ' could regulate the light 
to suit themselves, without any movement on the part of any 
of those in the seance-room being necessary. When every- 
thing was in readiness the medium entered the cabinet, seated 
himself and was tied, and so secured to his chair that it was 
impossible that he could have any use of himself. He was 
most thoroughly secured to his chair, and his chair nailed 
fast to the floor by passing leather straps over the rounds in 
the side arid nailing the ends to the floor. After it was shown 
to the sitters that he was utterly helpless, the curtain was 
drawn. The manager now placed an ordinary kitchen table 
in front of the door of the cabinet, so that it stood away 
from it about two feet. The table contained no drawer. On 
the table was laid writing material, a guitar, and small bell. 
The manager seated himself close to one side of the cabinet 
entrance, and started a large Swiss music-box. Before it 
had finished the first air the lamp was shut entirely off, 
making the room inky dark. 

" An illuminated hand and arm was now seen to come from 
behind the curtain, and played an accompaniment to the 
music-box on the guitar. We could see plainly the move- 
ments of the hand, arm, and fingers, as it manipulated the 
strings of the instrument. It did not appear necessary to 
finger the strings on the keyboard, although the air was in 
a key that made it impossible to tune the guitar so that an 
accompaniment could be performed without fingering. How- 
ever, but one hand was visible, and it was picking the strings. 
After the tune was finished, the hand left the instrument, 
and moved out into the room to the front of the table, and 
from the sound we knew it was writing on the tablet that 
had been placed there. The arm was of bluish light and 



Materialization 263 

appeared to end just above the elbow, and to have no con- 
nection with the body. It finished writing and seemed to float 
into the cabinet near the top. 

" The light was opened and the manager requested those 
who had tied the medium to examine his condition and see 
if the ropes had been tampered with. The examination was 
made and it was evident that the fastenings were undisturbed. 
The communication was read aloud to those present, and 
contained the following: 

" s We are pleased to meet so many seekers after light and 
truth here this evening, and, from the conditions, as we 
sense them, we will have a satisfactory and pleasant seance. 
The way to obtain the best results is for each person to main- 
tain a passive condition and take what we have to give. You 
may rest assured that our best efforts will be put forth to 
give you entire satisfaction. The Control.' 

" The writing was exactly on the ruled lines although 
written in absolute darkness. The hand and arm, although 
luminous, did not give out a particle of light. The arm had 
been at least five feet from the cabinet opening and seven 
feet from the medium. Surely, it was not he. The message 
read, the light was again shut down and the music again 
started. 

" Once more a hand appeared, and, floating out to the 
table, again began writing. Of a sudden the hand disap- 
peared, and, after a few seconds, I was astonished to feel a 
hand thrusting a paper into my top coat pocket. Now 
appeared two hands and they played an air on the guitar. 
Now came three, then four hands were visible, bright as the 
day. Two of them began writing again, and, when they had 
finished, two more sitters were the recipients of sheets of 
paper. Soon the light was opened for an inspection of the 
cabinet, which was made, with the conclusion that the medium 
had not moved. Those of us receiving communications were 
afforded an opportunity to read them. We found them 
nicely written, as before, and all contained ' tests.' . . . 

" After the light went out again, more hands were seen ; 
the table was floated about, over the heads of the circle, as 



264 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

was the music-box, which weighed at least fifty pounds. An- 
other examination of the cabinet was made and everything 
found satisfactory. This time the light was not put entirely 
out, but a very dim light was allowed. 

" The music-box was again set playing, and, while yet it 
was playing the first tune, a tall figure, robed in creamy white, 
with gleaming sparks in her hair, and on her head a sort of 
crown, issued from the cabinet. She was recognized by a 
gentleman present, a spiritualist, whose spirit guide she was, 
and who addressed her as c my queen.' She stood a few sec- 
onds behind the table and then stepped out in the open space 
between the sitters and the table. The gentleman now arose 
from his seat and, standing beside her, holding her hand, 
conversed in a whisper with her for some seconds. 

" This was most assuredly a lady, if appearances go for 
anything. Her hands were quite small, and were warm and 
lifelike, as several, including myself, can testify, having 
been permitted to shake hands with her. At last she started 
to the cabinet, and, as she went, appeared to grow shorter, 
until, as she disappeared between the curtains, she was not 
much taller than the table. The manager now explained that 
the spirit had remained out rather too long and came near 
dematerializing before she reached the cabinet. Now came 
the spirit of a young man, dressed in a light suit of clothes, 
who gave his name and said his mother was present. She 
was, and had a few words of conversation with him when 
he disappeared into the cabinet. The lady said that it was 
unmistakably her son ; but there was something that was not 
as he had been, but what it was she was unable to describe. 

" The next spirit to present itself was my son Eddie. He 
came out from the cabinet calling ' Papa, papa.' The man- 
ager asked ' Who is your papa ? ' and he replied, ' Mr. 
(Smith).' All this time he stood between the table and the 
cabinet, and only his head and shoulders could be seen. The 
manager told him to step out where he could be seen, when 
he came around to the front of the table. 

" It was rather dark, but I could swear it was my son. He 
was just the right size, with long flaxen hair and a very pale 



Materialization 265 

face. He wore a light-colored waist and darker knee- 
breeches and stockings, with a large black bow at his throat, 
just as I remember seeing him last in health. 

" While Eddie was still standing in front of the table a 
large man came out and took him by the hand. Eddie spoke, 
saying : 

" ' Must I go back, grandpa ? ' The form turned toward 
me, saying: 

" ' My son, this is a great pleasure to us, but we must not 
long remain, as it is our first attempt at materializing.' 
He turned to go when the manager said to him: 

" ' If the gentleman is your son you ought to give him 
your name.' 

' The name of the child is Eddie, and my own is J. A. 
Smith,' replied the form, as they vanished into the cabinet. 

" The manager suggested that it would be well to examine 
and see whether the medium had been out or not. The cab- 
inet was examined and everything found satisfactory. 

" Spirit after spirit came from the cabinet, one or two at 
a time for an hour ; some of them came to friends, and others 
were ' controls ' of the medium. Many of them were recog- 
nized by different ones of the sitters in the room. I, for one, 
could swear to the identity of my own son Eddie, while my 
father was plainly recognizable. . . . 

" The room was again made dark. Suddenly there ap- 
peared on the floor, in front of the table, a light about as 
large as a baseball. It moved about in a circle of perhaps 
a foot in diameter and grew larger. It soon lost the shape 
of a ball and appeared to be a luminous cloud. Seemingly 
we could see into and through it. In the course of thirty 
seconds it had become as large as a six-year-old child; still 
there was no definite shape, only a fleecy cloud-like mass, 
turning, twisting, and rolling. At the end of perhaps a 
minute it was the size and shape of an adult person. The 
face could not be seen, but light, luminous spots were visible 
as though the hair and ears were decorated with gems. The 
shape spoke and requested light. As the light was turned 
on the luminousness disappeared, and we beheld a beauti- 



266 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

ful young lady clothed in a dazzling white costume. Her 
arms and shoulders were bare, and about her neck there was 
a necklace of what appeared to be very brilliant diamonds. 
Her feet were encased in white slippers, with straps across 
the instep. In her ears and hair glistened and shimmered 
beautiful diamonds. Her face and arms were as alabaster, 
and altogether she was one of the most beautiful women I 
had ever beheld. She was recognized by a lady and gentle- 
man present as their daughter. They had met her here 
before. They were from the East, and were wealthy. The 
spirit requested that they come to her, which they did, and 
were each kissed and embraced by it. They held a moment's 
conversation with her and resumed their seats, when the lamp 
was slowly turned down. As the light became dim the spirit 
became luminous. The face and arms disappeared and the 
body became as a cloud again, turning and twisting and 
growing smaller until it was nothing but a small light spot 
on the carpet, which of a sudden disappeared entirely. 

" Immediately after this manifestation an examination of 
the medium and cabinet was made, and it was certain the 
medium had not been away from his chair. The light was 
again turned out and the music-box started, when two bright 
spots appeared on the carpet, one at either end of the table. 
These went through the same process of development until, 
when the light was turned on, there was another beautiful 
female spirit at one end of the table, and a child of perhaps 
eight years of age at the other. The child was recognized 
by a lady present as her daughter, while the adult spirit was 
recognized and rapturously greeted by a gentleman who sat 
near me on my left, as his i darling angel guardian.' They 
had quite a long conversation, in which they made use of 
very endearing language, each to the other. I supposed it 
was the gentleman's wife. . . . 

" These spirits did not disappear as the first one had, but, 
when the light had been turned off, the luminous shape re- 
volved a few times, and on two occasions assumed the garb 
and shape of men, and when the light was turned on again, 
there stood the men with beards and men's forms. After 



Materialization 267 

some eight or ten of these materializations and dematerial- 
izations, before our eyes, the last couple completely disap- 
peared. 

" The light was again turned down and a luminous shape 
came from the cabinet, followed by others, until seven of 
them stood on the floor. The light was turned up until we 
could see the seven spirits. Five were females and two males. 
They were of different sizes. The curtain at the door of 
the cabinet was pulled aside and we could see the medium sit- 
ting in the chair in which he was bound. The forms now filed 
into the cabinet again, while the music-box played. After 
they had disappeared the light was turned up, an investiga- 
tion made of the cabinet, and the seance was over. 

" There, reader, is a truthful description of what can be 
witnessed at the seances of mediums who are artists. None 
of your bungling, amateur work here. The work of such 
a medium is always satisfactory for the reason that if a 
man feels sure that the medium is a fraud, he has been so 
well entertained that he does not regret the money paid for 
the opportunity to witness it. This is the class of medium 
also, who frequently succeed in getting large sums of money 
from wealthy persons they have converted to spiritualism. 

" Did the writer not give you the true explanation of the 
manner in which these things were produced, you would prob- 
ably say it was conceived by a very fertile imagination. If 
you believed that he saw these things you would perhaps 
offer the preacher's explanation, by saying, 6 it is the work 
of the devil ; ' or that of the scientist, by asserting that 6 it 
is the mesmerist's power over your mind ; ' or ' the operator 
has discovered an odd force in nature ; ' or go off on a long 
dissertation on hypnotism and fourth dimension of space 
problems. However, it is not the work of the devil, neither 
are there any but natural laws necessary to its production. 

" The seance described actually occurred and was de- 
scribed in writing by Mr. Smith in the language used, al- 
though it was not printed, and the writer was one of those 



268 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

who assisted in its production. He will now proceed to ex- 
plain this particular seance. . . . 

" It will be remembered that the room and cabinet were 
carpeted with a dark carpet, and that the ceilings were of 
wood. The ceilings were decorated by being put on in 
panels. The ceiling of the cabinet would not have been like 
that of the room had the closet been a part of the architect's 
plans of the house. It was not, but was made by the me- 
dium. He simply built a lath and plaster partition from the 
corner of a wide chimney to the wall, thus inclosing a space 
of six by four feet. The panel in the ceiling of the closet 
was twenty inches square. This panel was ' doctored ' and 
could be displaced, leaving an aperture large enough for 
the s spooks ' to get through with perfect ease. A light 
ladder which reached within three feet of the floor of the cab- 
inet was hooked fast above and furnished the means of get- 
ting down and up again. There were eight persons con- 
nected with the seance described by Mr. Smith, seven up- 
stairs and the medium in the cabinet. Of course it was not 
necessary that the medium get out of his fastenings, and the 
facts are that he did not. The table was placed across the 
cabinet door, not to lay the instruments on, but to be very 
much in the way should any one make a rush and 6 grab ' 
for the materialized forms. In case this occurred, the 
' spooks ' above would close the light, making the room per- 
fectly dark, and the manager would do his utmost to turn 
the table on end, or side, with the legs out in the room. Be- 
fore the ' grabber ' could get the lay of things and get past 
it, the spooks would have gone through the trap, closed it, 
pulled up the ladder, and the s grabber ' would have found 
the medium writhing and groaning and bleeding from the 
mouth. The bleeding was for effect, and was caused by 
sucking very hard on his teeth or gums. 

" The table also served a convenient purpose in the mate- 
rialization and dematerialization through the floor. You 
now know where the spooks came from, in this particular 
house, and how they got in and out. Now let us see how they 
managed the materializations, and the properties used to 



Materialization 269 

produce them. The trap and ladder were practically noise- 
less in their operations, but the music-box made assurance 
doubly sure that the least sound from the cabinet should not 
be heard in the seance-room. 

" When the box began its first air the trap-door was 
opened and down the ladder came a young man clad in a 
suit of black tights. He was entirely covered with black with 
the exception of his right arm, which was bare to a point a 
little more than half-way from the elbow to his shoulder. 
The bare arm glowed with a luminous bluish light. 

" This condition of things was brought about by powder- 
ing his arm with pulverized luminous paint. If you are not 
told the method of transforming the sticky paint to powder, 
you will not be able to do it, and will conclude the writer 
was romancing in this case. The most essential thing to 
you will be to know where you can procure this paint. The 
writer has been unable to procure it anywhere, except of 
Devoe & Co., of New York City. It is put up in a package 
resembling six-ounce jelly glasses, and you will get six of 
them for five dollars. In order to reduce it to powder, thin 
the contents of one of the glasses with one pint of turpentine. 
When it is thoroughly cut and incorporated into the turpen- 
tine, soak strips of muslin in it and hang them out to dry. 
When thoroughly dry you can shake the powder from the 
cloth. In order to powder one of your arms, gather one of 
the cloths in your hands, and use it as a powder-puff on 
your arm. You will not be able to get all the paint out, but 
the pieces will make luminous crowns, slippers, stars, and 
luminous decorations for your robes. You will be under 
the necessity of perfuming your robes each time they are 
used, for the odor of the turpentine will always remain to a 
greater or less degree. To illuminate a robe or costume 
(the mediums always say 'robe') you proceed the same as 
in the powdering process, except that to the pint of paint 
you will add a wine-glass full of Demar varnish, which will 
prevent its falling or being shaken off as powder. You are 
not to make the robe of muslin, but of white netting. Every 
lady will know what netting is. It is the lightest, thinnest 



270 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

material the writer ever saw sold in a dry goods store. Ten 
yards of it can be put into the vest pocket. Do not scrimp 
the material, but get as much of it into your robe as possible. 

" When he of the luminous arm steps from the cabinet 
into the dark room no part of him is visible save the arm. 
He picked the strings of the instrument with the illuminated 
hand and fingered the keyboard with the other. He makes 
a sound of writing on the tablet and tears off a leaf which 
he conceals, and, drawing a long black stocking over the 
luminous arm, places in the pocket of the sitter a com- 
munication that had been written up-stairs in a good light. 
This accounts for the even, beautiful writing, supposed to 
have been done in the dark. He covers the luminous arm so 
that any one so inclined could not locate it in order to * grab ' 
when he is near enough. By mounting the table, that lumi- 
nous hand and arm can be made to show as though it was 
floating about near the ceiling. 

" When four hands were visible there were two spooks 
at work with both arms illuminated. . . . You can readily 
understand the forces that floated the music-box and table 
above the heads of the sitters, and an explanation is useless. 

" When the first female spirit appeared it was, in reality, 
a young woman, dressed in a gorgeous white costume without 
paint, hence the light was turned up instead of down, in 
order that she be visible. Rhinestones and Sumatra gems 
being cheap, she was plentifully supplied with ' diamonds,' 
although many of those who are the queens or spirit guides 
or ' controls ' of wealthy spiritualistic fanatics wear real 
diamonds, the gift of their wealthy charge, or * king,' as 
they usually call them. 

" When she started for the cabinet she used her hands to 
keep her robe from under her feet, and as she went stooped 
lower and lower, until, as she disappeared in the cabinet, she 
went on her hands and knees. This is what caused the ap- 
pearance of ' dematerialization.' 

" When Mr. Smith's son, Eddie, came from the cabinet, 
he was represented by a boy of about eight years of age, the 
son of one of the female ' spooks ' up-stairs. He receives two 



Materialization 271 

dollars a night for his services, the same as the larger spooks. 
He was powdered until he was very white, a blond wig put 
over his own hair, and dressed as most boys are at the age 
Mr. Smith's son died. Mr. Smith recognized him by his 
size, his light complexion, and flaxen hair, and the fact that 
he called him ' papa,' and gave his correct name. His 
father was ' made up ' from the description given by the 
medium, and acknowledged by Mr. Smith as correct. Of 
course he knew his own name, for it was given him by the 
slate-writer. . . . 

" We now come to a part of the phenomena that all spir- 
itualists who have witnessed it will swear by. What is re- 
ferred to is the materializing and dematerializing of the 
spirit from the floor and before your eyes. In this you see 
first a small light, which grows larger and larger, until there 
stands before you a fully formed female or male spirit, as 
was described in Mr. Smith's experience. 

" In order to accomplish what he witnessed, the same 
spook who had before been recognized by a gentleman as 
* his queen,' prepared herself in the following way. Divest- 
ing herself of all clothing she donned simply a long chemise 
that reached her shoe tops. She drew on a pair of white 
stockings, and over them a pair of white slippers. Into her 
hair and ears she put rhinestone diamonds, and around her 
neck a necklace of the same beautiful but valueless stones. 
On each ear-lobe and around her neck were put small spots 
of the luminous powder to represent the diamonds while it 
was dark. Her face was powdered and her eyebrows and eye- 
lashes darkened, while a dark line was drawn under each eye. 
She now took a black mask that covered her head, and her 
' robe ' in her hands, and went down to the cabinet. Arriv- 
ing there, she put the black mask over her head, to prevent 
the luminous diamonds being seen until the proper time. She 
carried her robe in a black bag. Crawling from between 
the curtains and under the table, she exposed on the floor 
a small part of her robe. This she shook and moved about, 
allowing it to escape from the bag until it was all out. She 
was now from under the table and on her knees, and it was 



272 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

time the head show on the form, so, getting close to the 
robe, she threw off and under the table the black mask. The 
shape was now the size of an adult; she adjusted the robe 
to her person, and rapped for light. As a matter of course, 
when any light was made the luminousness of the robe was 
drowned, and she appeared in simply a white costume. The 
necklace and ear-drops could now be seen, but when the light 
was such as to reveal them, the luminous spots had disap- 
peared, leaving the spectator to think the ones he now saw 
were the ones he had seen in the dark. The process of de- 
materialization will now be apparent, and a description will 
only tire the reader. One small spook was all that was re- 
quired, as he could be made to represent boy or girl as was 
desired, by clothing him in the garments of either sex. 

" At the close of the seance, the full force of ' spooks ' 
came into the room. After disappearing, they shinned up 
the ladder, drew it after them, closed the panel and the trap 
in the floor above it, replaced the carpet and pushed over the 
place a heavy bedstead from which they took the castors. 
They now carried the ladder down-stairs and concealed it 
in the coal-house as they went through it on their way home. 
They will get their pay next day. 

" Should ever so close an examination of the cabinet be 
made, you would not find anything wrong. This particular 
medium has taken investigators into the cellar beneath the 
cabinet, and the room above it, scores of times, yet nothing 
was discovered. 

" You are not always to search for the trap in the ceiling, 
nor yet in the floor. A trap is not possible in the ceiling 
except a closet is used as ' cabinet,' and the ceiling is of 
wood. Where this condition of things does not exist, you 
must search elsewhere. The floor is a very likely place when 
it cannot be made in the ceiling. If you do not find it there, 
examine the base or mopboard. If it is in the mopboard 
you will find, upon examination, that there is a joint in it 
near the corner of the cabinet, but you will find it solidly 
nailed with about four nails each side of the joint. This 



Materialization 273 

appearance of extraordinary solidity will be absolute proof 
that it is not solid. 

" The nails are not what they appear, but are only pieces 
about one-half inch in length, and do not even go through 
the board. The piece is fastened on the other side with a 
couple of bolts that hold it very firmly in place. There is 
a corresponding opening in the mopboard in the next room, 
although no attempt is made to so carefully conceal it, as 
no one is ever admitted to it. Through this trap the 
' spooks ' enter the cabinet by crawling and wiggling. It 
is not a very desirable trap, for the mopboard is scarcely 
ever wide enough to permit of a trap that the spook could 
get through in a hurry; besides, they must assume their 
costumes after they get into the cabinet or tear them to 
pieces. You can see how this would make it very inconve- 
nient. 

" If the room is wainscoted the spook will have all the 
sea-room necessary in his trap, for it will extend from just 
below the moulding on the top of the wainscoting to the 
floor behind the strip of quarter-round. . . . 

" It is next to an impossibility to detect these traps by 
examining in the cabinet. They were constructed to avoid 
discovery, and no pains spared to make them so absolutely 
perfect that not one chance in a million is taken. The proper 
place to seek for traps is in the adjoining room, up-stairs, or 
in the cellar. One is foolish to undertake to find a trap by 
thumping the walls or floor ; for, if you happen to thump 
one, the medium who is smart enough to make use of a trap 
is also sharp enough to make provision for its being thumped, 
and your sounding method goes for naught. 1 Bear in mind 

1 It must be remembered that it is occasionally possible for the medium 
to do away with traps altogether, either by having a confederate in the 
audience who produces all the phenomena — the medium sitting bound 
meanwhile — or by some such simple device as the following. Suppose 
the seance-room is closed at one end by a pair of folding doors; these 
doors are locked, the key kept by a member of the audience, while the 
keyhole is sealed, and strips of gummed paper are also stretched across 
the crack between the doors, sealing them firmly together. Confederates 
enter the room, in this case, by merely pushing both doors to one side, they 
being so constructed that this is possible. A small space is now left around 
the end of one door, through which the medium's confederate creeps! 



274 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

that when you are examining the cabinet, you are seeking 
at the very place that is prepared most effectually to with- 
stand your investigations. . . . Do not forget the manager 
in your search. He or she is never searched, or never has 
been up to date, which has been the cause of many a failure 
to find the ' properties ' of the medium when the seance was 
given in a room and cabinet furnished by a stranger and 
skeptic. Do not be deceived into a belief that all of the 
sitters are strangers to the medium. There may be from 
one to five persons present who pay their money the same 
as yourself, and who may appear to be the most skeptical 
of any one in the room. They will generally be the 
recipients of some very elegant ' tests,' and weep copiously 
great grief-laden tears when they recognize the beloved 
features of some relative. 

" They are the most careful of investigators, and, when 
the medium's trap is located in the door- jamb, will pound 
the walls, and insist on the carpet being taken up, when they 
will get upon their hands and knees and make a most search- 
ing examination of the floor. They are the closest and most 
critical of investigators, but they are very careful to exam- 
ine everywhere except where the defect is located. Because 
one or two men seem to be making such a critical investiga- 
tion, do not allow that fact to prevent you making one on 
your own responsibility. Wait until they have finished and 
then examine not only where they did, but more particularly 
where they did not. Their examination is only for the pur- 
pose of misleading others. Their c tests ' are received in a 
way to cause those about them to think they admit them very 
unwillingly, or because they were so undeniable that they 
could do nothing else. 

" A great many will probably deny that confederates are 
ever employed. They are not, by mediums who are not 
smooth enough to produce that which appears so wonderful 
as to make a good business for them. The writer would ad- 
vise those mediums who give such rank seances to employ a 
few floor-workers (they are easily obtained), and see what 
a difference it would make in the amount of business they 



Materialization 275 

will do. Get good ones, those who know human nature, and 
know when they have said all that is necessary. Most of 
them are inclined to say too much, thus causing the ordinary 
man to suspect that they are confederates." 



CHAPTER XV 

SEALED - LETTER READING 

The methods of obtaining a knowledge of the contents 
of a sealed letter, or a folded piece of paper, containing 
a written question, — " one that has never left the writer's 
possession," — are so numerous and so ingenious that it is 
small wonder that the public is deceived into believing that 
the phenomena cannot, in many cases, be produced by fraud- 
ulent means, since the same test need never be given twice 
to the same sitter unless he is a frequent caller or attendant 
at the seances, and this is one great reason for the medium's 
success — the fact that the sitter goes prepared to detect the 
medium in some certain act of fraud, which he suspects, as 
the result, perhaps, of the last seance. When he arrives, 
and receives the sought-for information, therefore, he finds 
that the medium did not practise fraud of the kind suspected 
at all, and consequently goes away more convinced than ever 
of the genuine character of the phenomena observed, and the 
medium's supernormal powers. I shall, in the present 
chapter, endeavor to give a complete expose of the varied 
methods and systems employed to find out the contents of 
the sitter's paper or letter, beginning with the simplest 
cases, and gradually working up to the most complex. Let 
us first consider those cases where a question is written on 
a piece of paper, which is then folded up, and in due time 
the medium tells its contents to the sitter. 

The simplest method of doing this is to make use of a 
prepared pad. The medium hands to his sitter, or there is 
handed to him by an assistant, a pad of paper, with the re- 
quest that he (the sitter) shall write a question on the pad, 

27a 



Sealed-letter Reading 277 

tear off the sheet on which this question is written, and, after 
carefuly folding it up, place it in his pocket. The pad 
is meanwhile returned to the medium's table. In due course 
of time the medium tells the sitter the contents of the paper 
" which has never left his possession for an instant ! " In- 
deed, that is the case, but the trick is very simply worked, 
nevertheless. 

The pad is previously prepared by placing a piece of 
carbon-paper between two sheets, a certain distance from the 
top. If the carbon sheet is placed (say) between the third 
and fourth sheets of paper, it is not exposed to view when the 
top sheet is torn from the pad, but the impression is left on 
the fourth sheet of paper, nevertheless. The medium has 
only to gain possession of the pad, and examine this sheet, 
in order to find out the question written on the top sheet. 
The rest is plain sailing. 

But, you say, you have sometimes examined the pad, and 
this carbon sheet has not been present? Very likely! The 
same result may be produced by other means with far 
greater safety, so why should it be? In these cases, the 
medium has prepared the under side of one sheet of his pad 
(say, the fourth) with a preparation of paraffine. This is 
invisible against the paper, and the pad may be examined 
without any chance of its secret being discovered. Some- 
times soap is used, and answers the purpose equally as well. 
When, now, the pad is written upon, the pencil causes the 
paraffine or soap sheet to mark upon the one below it, these 
marks corresponding to the writing upon the top sheet. The 
page of the pad which receives the impression is detached and 
sprinkled with soft black powder, when the writing comes 
out clearly. Sometimes a sheet of glass is handed to the 
sitter, instead of a pad, and he places the two or three 
pieces of paper upon the glass to write the question. This 
is done to prove to the sitter that no prepared pad is used! 
As a matter of fact, the bottom sheet, the one in contact with 
the glass, is prepared in the manner described, and the im- 
pression is taken on the glass instead of the sheet of paper, 
just below the one prepared. The result is the same as 



278 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

before. Sometimes the medium simply hands to his sitter 
a pad and pencil, about either of which there is no trickery 
or preparation. How is it done? The medium takes care 
that the pencil is a very hard one, and that the paper of 
the pad is very soft. The sitter is forced to press rather 
hard, in order to obtain any impression on the top sheet, 
and, when he does so, he unconsciously marks the second 
sheet of the pad also. 

We now come to another class of tests, in which the sitter 
writes his question on his own piece of paper, which is after- 
ward folded up and placed in his pocket, the medium telling 
him the contents of the paper, nevertheless. The following 
are some of the methods employed to produce this result. 

The sitter, having written his question on a small slip of 
paper, folds this latter up into a small compass, and is re- 
quested by the medium to place it against his (own) fore- 
head and to concentrate his thoughts upon its contents. The 
medium also sits with closed eyes. As, however, the medium 
does not seem to " see " very clearly on this occasion, he 
requests the sitter to let him place the pellet against his own 
forehead for a few moments, in order to " get the impression 
more clearly." The unsuspecting sitter hands over his pellet 
to the medium, who (apparently) places it against his fore- 
head and remains in that position for some time. At the 
end of this period of "^concentration," he hands back to the 
sitter his pellet, who again holds it to his forehead, or places 
it in his pocket. If the latter, he is more liable than not to 
assert that he placed it in his pocket immediately upon writ- 
ing out the question, and that it never left his hands for a 
single instant! In due course of time, the medium tells his 
sitter the contents of his paper, and probably gives him an 
answer to the question it contained, possibly also displaying 
such a marvellous familiarity with the sitter's affairs, in 
that answer, that the sitter is altogether carried away by 
it, and inclined to believe that the whole of the seance must 
be genuine, because the information contained in the answer 
could not have been known to the medium, even if he had, by 
some means, succeeded in fraudulently opening the paper 



Sealed-letter Reading 279 

and reading its contents. How the medium acquired this de- 
tailed information about his sitter, I shall explain presently 
(pp. 312-18) ; for the present, I give merely the means 
employed by the medium to secure a knowledge of the con- 
tents of the written-upon paper. 

The whole secret lies in the fact that the medium quietly 
exchanged or substituted one paper pellet for another, when 
his sitter allowed him to place his (the sitter's) pellet against 
his forehead. In one hand the medium has palmed a dupli- 
cate pellet, resembling as much as possible the one his sitter 
wrote. In the act of transferring the pellet to his own fore- 
head, the medium simply substitutes the one in his own hand 
(v. Fig. XX., p. 284), and holds that one against his fore- 
head, while, with his disengaged hand, which he allows to 
drop beneath the surface of the table, he opens and reads the 
pellet his sitter handed him. In handing the pellet back to the 
sitter, the medium again substitutes the pellets, returning 
to the sitter the one he originally had and wrote. The trick 
is now done, for the sitter has his own pellet back again, and 
the medium is possessed of the information he desired. This 
is an old trick, but a method still in very general use. 

A method that is sometimes used in public " test seances " 
is the following. The medium has written and sent up to 
him a number of questions on separate slips of paper, and 
these are all piled before him on the table. He picks up one 
of these, puts it to his forehead, and, after more or less hesi- 
tation, tells its contents. It is acknowledged as correct by 
some member of the audience, and the medium immediately 
opens the paper, and verifies the fact that he has given the 
message correctly. The next pellet is picked up and the con- 
tents read in like manner, until all the pellets have been read 
in turn. This test is very convincing, when well performed. 

The secret consists in the fact that the medium has a con- 
federate in the audience, the contents of whose pellet he al- 
ready knows. This pellet is marked, so that the medium 
can distinguish it from all the others in the pile. He picks 
up any pellet in the heap but his confederate's, and holds it 
against his forehead. After a time, he reads aloud the con- 



280 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

tents of the confederate's slip, which that person acknowl- 
edges as correct. As soon as he has done so, the medium 
opens the pellet, ostensibly to ascertain if he has read its 
contents correctly, — thereby gaining a knowledge of the 
contents of that pellet, which he reads as the contents of the 
next one, and so on, throughout the entire pile, the medium 
keeping " one ahead " all the time and reading each ballot 
in turn. If the letters are sealed, the same method may still 
be used, the medium breaking the seals and opening the let- 
ters, " to see if he is correct " — thereby ascertaining the 
contents of that letter. I suggested a similar dodge, for 
reading the numbers of watches, in Mahatma, Vol. III., No. 
7 (January, 1900). 

I shall now describe a very popular test-reading of ballots, 
one more frequently employed, perhaps, than any other. 
All over the country there are mediums who are giving pub- 
lic readings of folded papers, usually in connection with a 
religious service. In such cases, the members of the audience 
bring their questions with them already written out and 
folded or sealed up, and these papers are collected and 
placed in a basket on the table or " altar " in front of the 
medium. After a certain length of time has elapsed in the 
" invocation," or opening prayer, and other parts of the 
service, the reading and answering of the paper pellets is 
begun, and more or less successfully accomplished. 

The contents of these slips of paper can be obtained in a 
number of ways. Confederates can be employed for one 
thing, and are certainly scattered about through the audience 
in almost every public seance. These confederates receive 
the most wonderful tests of all, for the simple reason that 
they are paid to acknowledge as correct everything the me- 
dium says. Then again the medium frequently has the 
opportunity to open and read these pellets in the very proc- 
ess of manipulation, even assuming that the medium has had 
no chance to handle or see them before. The task of open- 
ing and reading pellets in this manner is not a very diffi- 
cult feat, certainly not so hard as when a single sitter is 
across the table from the medium, and watching him intently, 



Sealed-letter Reading 281 

since, in the former case, the medium has the added advan- 
tage of distance, and is enabled to move about, make ges- 
tures, divert attention, etc., in many ways that would be con- 
sidered suspicious in a " single sitting." Yet we know that 
the " single sitter " can be deceived by this very feat, and 
the public performance becomes easier to comprehend in 
consequence. 

If the medium is working alone he is enabled to manipulate 
the paper pellets so as to open and read them, in his move- 
ments across and about the stage, distracting the attention 
from the hand that is doing the work meanwhile by waving 
the other arm, pointing with the fingers, quick remarks, 
causing the audience to turn and look at some person by a 
question addressed to him ; or he can manage to see what is 
inside the folded papers while in the act of folding and 
holding up to the forehead other papers, the disengaged 
hand opening the pellets, and they being read by the medium 
under the bandage which is so placed across his eyes that 
downward sight is possible. It is impossible to describe the 
actual process on paper, since it doubtless differs with each 
medium, but the general plan must be much the same in all 
cases. 

By far the safer plan, however, and the one usually em- 
ployed, is for the medium, or some of his or her assistants, to 
have the opportunity of handling the pellets before the " serv- 
ice " begins, and so for the medium to be in full possession of 
their contents before going on to the platform at all. The 
pellets are gathered up by attendants, and placed in a basket 
on the " altar." Before doing so, however, the pellets are 
taken behind the scenes, opened and read, their disappear- 
ance being unnoticed for the reason that duplicate pellets 
are placed upon the " altar " in the basket, and the originals 
resubstituted at an advantageous moment. It must be re- 
membered that the interval of time occupied in holding the 
religious service was not for nothing, but was profitably 
employed by the medium and his or her assistants in open- 
ing, reading, and resubstituting the pellets of paper gath- 



282 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

ered in from the audience. In all these note-reading tests, 
the same method is rarely used throughout and invariably. 
The methods are changed, in most cases, so soon as the one 
used becomes known or even suspected. 

Mr. Lunt gives an ingenious variation of this test in his 
Mysteries of the Seance, pp. 8-9. In this case, the medium 
has no confederate, but the ballots are collected and placed 
on the table, as before. The medium now steps up to the 
table and mixes the ballots, apparently in a careless way. 
" While doing so she takes care to palm one or more. Some 
skeptic in the audience is then requested to step up and see 
if the ballots are all properly folded. While he is doing this, 
she (the medium) manages to open and read the palmed 
ones. Then, the platform being cleared, she fi sees ' some 
names or messages ' written in the air,' perhaps (the ones 
she has just read in the palmed ballots). Then she remarks, 
' We will now try to find that ballot.' She steps up to the 
table, and picks up the ballots one by one until a rap is 
heard, asking with each, ' Is this it? ' Of course it is easy, 
while doing this, to drop the palmed ballots into the pile. 
These she keeps watch of and finally picks up one, when 
three loud raps are heard. Then the ballots are handed, still 
folded, to some one in the audience to read out loud, so all 
can hear. The ballot proves to be the one she ' saw in the 
air,' and then she is applauded." 

One is never sure, in a public performance, how many con- 
federates the medium has employed and stationed in various 
parts of the hall. These confederates are told to acknowl- 
edge, as true, whatever the medium states is within the pellet 
or envelope, and these persons naturally receive the most 
wonderful " tests." Their questions are sometimes brought 
to the performance already tightly sealed in envelopes, and 
they receive answers to their questions. None of the other 
sitters do, however, who have brought questions sealed in this 
manner, unless the conditions are fulfilled which would enable 
the medium to gain knowledge of the contents of this letter. 
The ways of doing this will be presently detailed. 

There are various devices of a more or less complicated 






Sealed-letter Reading 283 

nature that enable the medium to gain a knowledge of the 
contents of a paper that the sitter has written a question 
upon. One of the most ingenious of these is a trick-table. 
It has a hollow leg, which fits over a hole in the floor of the 
room, and communicates with the room below. The top of 
the table is covered with (1) a piece of thin silk, (2) a 
piece of carbon-paper, the size of the top of the table, placed 
over the silk, and (3) a very thin oilcloth covering, stretched 
tightly over the top of the table. To one corner of the silk 
is attached a thread, and this passes down to the room below, 
through the hollow leg of the table. 

When the sitter is seated at the table, the medium hands 
him one sheet of paper and a pencil, with the request that 
he (the sitter) write a question on the paper, and immedi- 
ately fold it up and place it in his pocket. Meanwhile, the 
medium leaves the room, " so that he shall not see what 
the sitter is writing upon his piece of paper." The sitter 
writes the question, as directed, and after folding up the 
paper, places it in his pocket. No sooner has he done so, 
however, than the medium returns to the room, and astonishes 
the sitter by informing him of the contents of the paper in 
his pocket! 

As may be imagined, the trick is worked by means of the 
table, and in this way. The sitter, having only one sheet of 
paper in his hands, and having no solid substance against 
which to press this, naturally places the paper on the table 
and writes his question in that manner. The pressure of 
the pencil, pressing upon the carbon-sheet, makes a copy of 
the question on the silk sheet underneath it, and the medium 
has only to pull the string attached to the corner of this silk 
sheet, to pull it off the table and down into the room below. 
There he is enabled to read the question, and, on going back 
to the seance-room, he can astonish his sitter by telling him 
what is on the folded-up paper in his pocket. This is an 
extremely effective test. 

I now give a method that has probably been employed 
more frequently than any other in the whole range of tests 
that deal with sealed-letter reading. The medium hands his 



284 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

sitter an envelope and a small card, requesting him to write 
any question he likes on the card, and immediately seal up 
the envelope in any way he sees fit. There is no trick about 
the envelope or card, which may be the sitter's own, if de- 
sired. The medium then takes the envelope and places it 
against some article on his table where it can remain in full 
view of the audience throughout the seance. The medium 
does not touch the envelope after this, but he knows its con- 
tents, nevertheless, and there has been no substitution, as 
may be proved by an examination of the seals on the en- 
velope. 

Since the card is sealed in the envelope in this case, so that 
it would be impossible to abstract it without detection, the 
medium makes use of a simple device that renders the en- 
velope temporarily transparent. In order to accomplish this 
without detection, the medium makes use of a small sponge 
wet with alcohol, which is palmed in his right hand. As soon 
as he receives the envelope in his hand, he wets the surface 
with the concealed sponge, on the way to his table. This 
renders the face of the envelope quite transparent for the 
time being, and the medium is enabled to read what is written 
on the enclosed card. Nothing will do to wet the paper but 
alcohol. Nothing else will dry out quickly enough and leave 
the paper unwrinkled. Water will render the envelope trans- 
parent, but will crinkle the paper, and will not dry out 
quickly enough either. In order to hide the wet side of the 
envelope while it is drying, the medium stands the envelope 
against some object on his table with this side turned from 
the spectators. He asserts that he does this, however, " so 
that they may see the seals on the back of the envelope 
throughout the seance." 

Of course the medium has to make sure that his sitter 
places the card in the envelope with the written side toward 
the front or face of the envelope, and not toward the sealed 
side or back. He accomplishes this by holding open the 
envelope for his sitter to place the card in it, and naturally 
holds it face downward {v. Fig. XXI., p. 284). The sitter, 
in order to prevent the medium from reading what is written 





Fig. 20 r ° 



























Mjgl 




i 


■^ ~V; 




Fig 22. 




Fig. 23 





Sealed-letter Reading 285 

upon the card, is therefore forced, from the nature of things, 
to place it in the envelope written side down, and this brings 
the writing against the face of the envelope. After the me- 
dium has seen that the card is placed safely in the en- 
velope in this position, he allows the sitter to do the rest of 
the sealing, etc., himself, since the manner of the fastening 
is of no further interest to him. A very fine way of working 
this test is described in the Open Court Magazine for April, 
1906. 

There is another method of obtaining a knowledge of the 
card that is placed in an envelope which is even simpler and 
bolder than the last method; the only disadvantage is that 
the envelope cannot be examined, in this case, as it could 
in the last experiment. A card is written upon, as before, 
and placed in the envelope, which is then sealed as securely 
as the sitter may desire. The " clairvoyant faculties " of 
the medium enable him to discover the question on the card, 
nevertheless. The envelope, in this case, is prepared by cut- 
ting a slit in the face, and just below the opening of the en- 
velope. This side is never shown to the sitter. When the 
card is placed in the envelope (v. Fig. XXII., p. 284), the 
medium pushes it into the opening and then out through 
this slit into his hand, where it is palmed (t\ Fig. XXIII.). 
The envelope may then be sealed as much as desired. The 
only objection to this method is the fact that the envelope 
cannot be examined after the sitting; but the medium may 
avert this difficulty by suggesting to his sitter, in the first 
place, that the envelope be sealed to the table, " in order to 
show," he explains, " that the envelope is not substituted for 
any other during the seance! " His real object is to conceal 
the fact that the envelope has been " doctored," for, once 
it has been sealed down in this manner, it cannot be removed 
without destroying all traces of tampering with its face. 

Sometimes the sitter, on opening the envelope containing 
his question, is surprised to find an answer thereto written on 
the inside of the same envelope as that in which his question 
is placed. This is a very surprising test, and is worked as 
follows. In the ordinary make of envelope, it will be found 



s 



286 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

that the under or bottom side is very frequently badly 
gummed, and can be opened with very little trouble. This 
side the medium proceeds to pry open with a fine penknife. 
He separates the edges a trifle, at the bottom, and then 
inserts a small lead-pencil into the opening thus made, and, 
by rolling this carefully along toward the centre of the en- 
velope, he is enabled to separate the flap without much diffi- 
culty. On a small slip of paper the medium has prepared 
a message written in reverse (mirror-writing), and with 
copying pencil. This slip is then inserted into the envelope, 
through the slit, and shaken into place. Now, the medium 
rubs over the surface of the envelope, outside this slip, first 
placing a piece of paper between the envelope and the 
fingers, so that no mark is left. The writing is transferred 
to the inside of the envelope, where it will appear as regu- 
lar writing. The slip may now be withdrawn, the lower 
flap of the envelope moistened and restuck, and the trick is 
done. 

The above method will illustrate a point that it is very im- 
portant the investigator should keep in mind, which is that, 
because an envelope is usually opened by raising the top 
flap, it need not be so opened, but any one of the three 
remaining sides may be opened just as well, and in fact, 
frequently far more easily than the top flap, as the gum 
is of an inferior quality. In sealing envelopes, therefore, 
the other two seams should receive just as careful attention 
as the two top seams, and be just as carefully sealed. It is 
no " test condition " at all to bring an envelope to the me- 
dium which has only these seams securely sealed. 

Great care must always be exercised that the envelope 
handed the medium is really opaque, as it is astonishing to 
find what thickness of paper may sometimes be seen through 
by purely normal means, as the result of a careful examina- 
tion. It might be possible to utilize the embryoscope, or 
« e gg_gl ass? " to read through several thicknesses of paper. 
A famous German scientist is said to have found that he 
could, by its aid, read through eight layers of opaque paper. 
It is possible that mediums make use of this device on occa- 



Sealed-letter Reading 287 

sion, in order to gain a knowledge of the contents of a given 
letter. 

A trick that is sometimes employed in order that the me- 
dium may become possessed of the knowledge of what is 
written on a certain slate, e. g., is the following. The 
medium makes use of a specially prepared table, in the top 
of which there is a trap cut slightly smaller than the slate 
he intends to use. The inside of the table is fitted with a 
series of mirrors that enable the medium to see the under 
side of the trap-door from where he sits, without changing 
his position. When the message is written on the slate, this 
is placed on the table, just over the trap mentioned, and, of 
course, written side down, and the medium then presses a 
spring which releases the door and allows it to swing open, 
downward. He is then enabled to read the message on the 
slate, and the door is allowed to resume its former position, 
by releasing the pressure on the spring. The medium may 
then proceed to give the information acquired in any man- 
ner he desires. 

I now come to consider the methods that are employed by 
the medium in order to gain a knowledge of the contents of 
sealed letters, and I cannot do better than to quote the fol- 
lowing passage from The Revelations of a Spirit Medium, 
pp. 172-7: 

" If you intend to become a professional medium the most 
agreeable and remunerative phase is that of answering sealed 
letters. A few hints as to the manner in which others have 
* got to the front ' in that phase may be of use to you. 

" Sit down and write an article describing the wonderful 
phenomena you have witnessed at your own seances for phys- 
ical manifestations. In this communication or article for pub- 
lication by one of the spiritual journals, you will describe 
yourself as having been very skeptical previous to your hav- 
ing visited your own seances, and witnessed the wonderful 
proofs of spirit return. After describing the wonders of 
your physical seances, you will mention the fact that you 
are a medium for answering sealed letters, and describe some 
wonderful tests you have received from yourself in that line ! 



288 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Lay it on thick and be sure to get your name and street num- 
ber incorporated into the article so that people will know 
where to address you. Now sign any name but your own, 
and mail it to one of the leading spiritual journals. 

" If your article is well written, and you have described 
the phenomena as unusually wonderful, besides giving them 
to understand that you are now, through what is described in 
your manuscript, a firm believer in spiritualism, your article 
will surely be printed. 

" As certainly as it is printed just so sure will you be 
overwhelmed with letters of inquiry from all over the United 
States. The letters will be asking information as to your 
fee for answering sealed letters and the method they should 
pursue in communicating with their spirit friends in that par- 
ticular way. You will receive hundreds of letters to answer 
at one dollar each. You will receive letters sealed in all 
manner of curious ways in order to prevent your opening 
them. If you will exercise plenty of patience, no letter will 
come to your hands so securely sealed that you cannot readily 
open and replace it in its original condition so as to defy 
detection. 

" The writer knows of a medium who, at one time, received 
a letter to answer that required him to earn his dollar before 
he had it in shape to return to the writer without danger of 
detection. 

" This particular letter was enclosed in three opaque en- 
velopes. The letter itself was folded to fit the smallest of 
the three envelopes and the edges glued together. It was 
now stitched with silk thread, red in the needle, and blue in 
the bobbin or shuttle. It was put into the first envelope, 
with two or three spots of glue on it, causing it to stick to 
the envelope and the medium to swear. Not being content 
to let this end their precautions, they now stitched through 
envelope and sheet, and, after putting mucilage all over the 
side on which the seams were, inserted it in the second en- 
velope. This envelope was mucilaged and placed in the third 
envelope, which was sealed with furniture glue, besides being 
waxed with letter wax and stamped with some kind of die 



Sealed-letter Reading 289 

that the medium could not duplicate without going to more 
expense than it would be worth. 

" The medium succeeded in getting the letter out and back 
again. How did he manage it? 

" He began by prying the wax off the outside envelope 
with a thin knife-blade. It came off in pieces from the size 
of a pea to pieces as large as a five-cent nickel. He took 
good care not to break the wax containing the impression 
of the die ; the balance did not matter, for it could be melted 
again. Now he got up steam in the teakettle, and, after 
first dampening the seams, soon steamed off the outside en- 
velope. When it came off it was put carefully to one side 
to dry. The second envelope was disposed of in the same 
manner. After examining the third envelope and finding he 
could duplicate it, he steamed and cut it from the letter. He 
now had a good hour's work to pick the silk thread from the 
letter. It was finally accomplished, and the letter read and 
copied. The letter was folded on the old creases, and taken to 
the sewing-machine and stitched with red and blue silk in 
the same needle-holes from which the thread had been taken. 
He now got a duplicate for the envelope he had destroyed, 
and, after gluing the sheet, it was inserted in the envelope. 
It was necessary to put the thread back into this envelope by 
hand, for the reason that it must be held between himself and 
the light in order to see where the holes were, in the letter 
inside. These could not have been seen with the envelope 
under the machine-needle. You can imitate machine work 
very nicely by hand. The last envelope was now folded over 
it, after giving it a liberal coat of glue, so that it would be 
impossible to do much investigating without destroying the 
evidences, if any were left, of the medium's having tampered 
with it. Now comes the fine work. The wax has left a stain 
on the envelope which will guide you in putting back the 
pieces of wax on which are the impressions of the die or 
seal. Give them a good coat of glue, stick them in place, 
being careful not to allow the glue to show beyond the edges 
of the wax. Allow the pieces to dry on before replacing the 
remainder of the wax. After they are fast, melt the re- 



290 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

mainder of the wax in a vessel and pour it where it had been 
before, being careful to make it cover all the stains and 
marks made by it in the first instance. See to it that the 
wax you have melted does not show a joint where it joins the 
pieces that you glued on. This can be remedied by heating 
a knife-blade, and holding it close to the wax until the two 
edges melt together. 

" This letter came from what is called a ' Bundyite ' spir- 
itualist, viz., one who believes that all mediums are frauds, 
and all phenomena fraudulent, until they have demonstrated 
it differently to their own satisfaction. His questions were 
satisfactorily answered and quite a complimentary letter was 
received by the medium. . . ." 



CHAPTER XVI 

MIND - BEADING PERFORMANCES 

Whether the phenomena of thought-transference are 
real facts in nature, whether such phenomena exist in reality, 
is a question I cannot stop to consider now. The evidence 
in the case will be found in full in the Proceedings of the 
S. P. R., and I would refer the reader to those pages, leaving 
him to draw his own conclusions from a study of the experi- 
ments there recorded. I, for one, do not deny that thought- 
transference really exists, and that, quite apart from 
" muscle-reading," there is a faculty in man which enables 
him, at certain times, to communicate directly with the con- 
sciousness of another individual, without recourse to the 
methods normally or usually employed. We know nothing 
as yet, however, of the laws that govern this sort of 
thought-transference or telepathy, and cannot command 
the phenomena to appear at our beck and call, or summon 
them at will; and consequently, any one who does so at once 
stamps himself as an impostor, or possibly, merely as a self- 
deluded person. The only thing we know about telepathy 
is that — we know nothing about it ! When, therefore, public 
performers give nightly exhibitions of " thought-reading," 
" clairvoyance," and so on, it may be taken for granted that 
these exhibitions are nothing more than clever conjuring 
performances, the only amazing part of which is that the 
public can be so gullible, and that the performers can display 
so much ingenuity in devising new methods of trickery, so 
that, no sooner is one device made public, than they are ready 
with another method, entirely different from the first, and 
serving to throw the investigator off the track, for the rea- 

291 



292 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

son that the method of operation is so different that any one 
knowing the method of trickery in the first case would be 
quite unable to explain the means employed in the second 
instance. In the present chapter, therefore, I shall attempt 
to give a detailed exposition of the various methods that 
are employed in performing acts of this character, con- 
sidering only the fraudulent side of the question, for the 
reason that, in public performances, we may be sure that that 
is all that is ever witnessed in the name of thought-transfer- 
ence. 

I have already mentioned in the chapter on sealed-letter 
reading, and shall, further, in the chapter on fraudulent 
trance-phenomena, enumerate a number of methods by which 
a medium may come into possession of a large amount of 
knowledge about his sitter, and I need not repeat any of the 
evidence here. Test seances proper I shall not consider in 
this connection, therefore, or any of the methods that are 
employed, in obtaining information about prospective sit- 
ters. The present chapter is devoted to a consideration of 
the methods by which the thoughts of one individual are 
apparently transferred to another, but by fraudulent means, 
and generally on a public stage. The methods of doing this 
are so numerous that it would be quite impossible to consider 
them all in the present volume at any length, and I must 
accordingly content myself with enumerating the principal 
methods in use, and explaining the devices employed in 
order to produce the desired result. 

There is a species of mind-reading performance, made 
popular some years ago by J. Randall Brown, Washington 
Irving Bishop, Stuart Cumberland, and a few others, which 
had great popularity for some time, and succeeded in mys- 
tifying many thousands of persons. Their acts were, in the 
main, very similar. A large blackboard was placed upon 
an easel, on the stage, and the performer, after securing 
a number of persons from the audience to assist him (these 
were very rarely confederates, it may be observed in passing), 
would have himself securely blindfolded by the members of 
the committee, and then step up to the blackboard, chalk 



Mind-reading Performances 293 

in hand. Grasping one of the committee men by the hand, 
he would now proceed to trace on the board a number which 
had been previously chosen by some member of the committee, 
but which was unknown to the mind-reader. A bank-note 
would now be handed to some other member of the committee, 
and he, grasping the hand of the mind-reader, would con- 
centrate his mind on the number of the note. The performer 
would then proceed to trace on the board, very slowly, the 
number of this note, which the assistant would certify was 
correct. In the same manner the mind-reader would tell the 
date of a coin, the number of a selected card, etc., the only 
condition required being that the person holding the hand of 
the performer should concentrate his mind on the number 
which the mind-reader was to write upon the board. Each 
of the above-mentioned performers succeeded in opening a 
safe, the combination of which they did not know, they 
merely holding the hand of the person who did know the 
combination ; and (I believe) each of these gentlemen per- 
formed the spectacular feat of driving a hansom cab across 
the city, when blindfolded, and having a sack over the 
head in addition, and finding a hidden article secreted in a 
hotel at the other end of the city. These feats were all most 
marvellous, apparently, and it is small wonder that their 
generation marvelled at the feats they performed. 

Every item in their performance is explainable by muscle- 
reading, however, and nothing but muscle-reading was opera- 
tive in any of their performances or acts. The person hold- 
ing the performer's hand gave him the required information 
by means of slight, unconscious movements, which the per- 
former interpreted, also more or less unconsciously. When 
the performer's hand would move in the right direction, the 
person holding his hand would have a tendency to push it, 
while, if the hand was moving in the wrong direction, the 
assistant would have a slight tendency to restrain the per- 
former's hand, thereby showing him that he was moving in 
the wrong direction. These twitches or movements, slight 
as they were, were quite sufficient to guide the expert mind- 
reader in his task, and enable him to successfully indicate 



294 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the date of a coin, the number of a watch, or a bank-note, 
etc. A detailed exposition of the manner of this guidance 
will be found in H. J. Burlingame's How to Read People's 
Mmds, pp. 28-30. The opening of the safe was effected in 
the same manner, the performer receiving delicate indica- 
tions by means of slight unconscious muscular twitches, the 
hand being guided throughout its difficult journey by the 
hand of the person who knew the combination and which 
hand he was holding. Incredible as this statement may ap- 
pear, it is, nevertheless, the actual truth, as may be verified 
by any one caring to examine the evidence for himself. 
Stuart Cumberland stated that this was so in his own case, in 
his book, A Thought-Reader's Thoughts. A full exposition 
of A. J. Brown's methods will be found in a little pamphlet 
entitled The Art of Mind-Reading, while W. I. Bishop's 
methods are explained on pp. 14-16 of Burlingame's Horn 
to Read People's Minds, before referred to, and in other 
publications. 

The trick of driving through the crowded city in a cab 
requires, perhaps, a little closer consideration. The eyes 
were first of all bandaged carefully, and over the head was 
thrown a sack or bag of thick, dark material. In the act of 
adjusting the sack over the head, the mind-reader managed to 
tilt up on to his eyebrows the bandages on his eyes, enabling 
him to see beneath the wads of wool placed over each eye. 
The front of the sack is " doctored " by thinning the mate- 
rial in a manner that will render it almost transparent, yet 
which will not show that it has been tampered with from the 
outside. The performer manages to get this part of the bag 
before his eyes. By tilting his head backward, he can now 
see fairly well, under the bandages and through the sack, 
and it only requires the usual care to drive the cab safely 
through the city. The hand is determined, meanwhile, by 
the slight indications given by the person sitting next to the 
driver, who is, in this case, the mind-reader. In this manner 
they arrive at the house, and the finding of the lost article 
then becomes an easy task for the skilled muscle-reader. 

Before turning to an examination of the methods em- 



Mind-reading Performances 295 

ployed by professional mind-readers of the present day, 
let us consider a few of the devices that are employed in 
order to convey information from the performer to his 
assistant upon the stage, or elsewhere. These methods are 
innumerable, and no doubt every performer has his own. I 
shall mention a few of those of most general utility. 

A slate is examined and cleaned. Any person in the audi- 
ence is now requested to write several rows of figures, one 
under the other, on this slate, and it is then placed, together 
with the chalk, on a table, face downward. The assistant 
then comes upon the stage (or into the room), and, picking 
up the piece of chalk, writes a row of figures on the blank 
side of the slate, which proves to be the correct total to the 
rows of figures written on the reverse side of the slate. The 
performer, meanwhile, has not said a word, and has not been 
near the assistant. 

The secret lies in the fact that the performer watches the 
person writing down the rows of figures on the slate, and 
mentally adds as they are written. He stands with his 
hands behind his back and under his coat-tails, and holds in 
his hands a piece of chalk, one side of which is slightly flat- 
tened. On this chalk, the performer writes the correct total 
of the rows of figures, and places this piece of chalk on the 
slate instead of the other, the substitution being made on 
the way to the table. It will readily be seen that, as soon 
as the assistant picks up the piece of chalk to write the an- 
swer on the slate, he comes into possession of the correct 
knowledge of the total of the rows of figures on the other 
side of the slate. 

A very similar device is sometimes used by professional 
mind-readers to very good effect, generally as an " im- 
promptu " test of the performer's powers. A message is 
written on a piece of paper by some one, who is at liberty 
to fold up this paper, and place it in his pocket, after having 
first shown it to the performer. The performer's assistant, 
meanwhile, is in some distant part of the city, and in igno- 
rance of the test that is in progress. A note is written to 
her, requesting that she at once inform them of the contents 



296 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

of the note in the gentleman's pocket. The gentleman may 
carry this note to the assistant himself, if he so desires, or 
a messenger may be sent. There is no trick wording of the 
letter, which may be written by the gentleman himself, if 
he desires to do so. A fountain-pen is sent with the message, 
in case the assistant has no writing materials. As soon as 
this note is received, the assistant writes out the correct con- 
tents of the letter in the gentleman's pocket. 

The trick consists in the fact that the performer copies 
out the letter which the gentleman has written on a very fine 
piece of tissue-paper, and, after crumpling this up into a 
ball, thrusts it into the cap of the fountain-pen, which, it 
will be remembered, was sent along with the note. The assist- 
ant abstracts this piece of paper, reads it, and is at once in- 
formed of the contents of the letter in the gentleman's pocket. 
All she has to do is to copy this on to another piece of 
paper. 

If the performance is the regulation public exhibition, in 
which the assistant remains on the stage, while the performer 
goes down among the audience, the chief object, of course, 
is for the performer to be able to communicate with the 
assistant instantly, effectually, and in such a manner that 
the audience will not suspect that any such communication 
is being established. The older methods of doing this were 
in the form of spoken " codes," the manner of putting the 
question to the assistant at once conveying to him or her the 
information required. Elaborate codes were devised and mem- 
orized by the performer and his assistant, with this object 
in view. I cannot stop to give any of these codes here, which 
may be very easily imagined. The form of the question 
would indicate the article touched by the performer. Such 
simple questions as : " What article is this ? " " What is 
this ? " " What may this be ? " " What is here ? " " What 
have I here? " " Can you see this? " " Do you know what 
this is? " " Look at this." " Now, what is this? " " Tell 
me this." "I want to know this." "Pray what is this?" 
"You know what this is?" "Quick. This article." 
" Name this article? " " Say, what is this? " " This arti- 



Mind-reading Performances 297 

cle? " indicating the article to the assistant on the platform 
without further delay. The group of questions quoted 
above are from Heller's " code," used by him for a number 
of years. 1 

Of late years, however, this code method has been almost 
entirely given up, and the assistant on the stage gives the 
required information, either without a word being spoken at 
all, or by the same question being asked each time. Obvi- 
ously, therefore, no code could be employed in such cases, 
and the performer is forced into devising other methods by 
which he can convey the required information to his assistant 
upon the stage. These methods are numerous. 

In some cases, the performer is connected with the stage 
by means of an electric current, a third assistant frequently 
being employed in these cases, he acting as intermediary be- 
tween the performer and the assistant on the stage. The 
performer passes amongst the audience, and is shown num- 
bers on bills, dates on coins, etc., which the assistant on the 
stage immediately names correctly. 

The secret lies in the fact that the performer has, passed 
up his legs and inside the trousers, copper wires, the ends of 
which connect with metal plates on the soles of his shoes, and 
so arranged that the circuit may be completed by pressing 
together two wires, separated by a spring, which is directly 
under the performer's waistcoat. He stands on the metal 
rim of the carpet which runs down the aisle, and to the 
other ends of which are attached wires, leading either to 
the assistant directly, or to some third person who* con- 
veys the message to the assistant upon the stage by means 
of signals. When the performer sees the date on the coin, 
the number of the bank-note, etc., all he has to do is to 
touch the two wires together a certain number of times, and 
the signal is interpreted at the other end of the line. A code 
is always employed to shorten and quicken the process. 

1 See Magic, Stage Illusions, pp. 184-201; More Magic, by Pro- 
fessor Hoffmann, pp. 236-60; Magic and Its Professors, pp. 67-70 ; Ma- 
hatma, Vol. IV., No. 5, etc., for a further consideration of Heller's per- 
formances, and the methods of conveying information to the assistant 
by various code signals. 



298 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

If the signals are carried to another assistant behind the 
scenes, that person communicates the results of the signals 
to the assistant upon the stage by means of hand signals, 
by a speaking-tube, by a hidden telephone (the receiver be- 
ing hidden in the high back of the chair, close to the assist- 
ant's ears ) , by means of a thread, this either passing directly 
into the assistant's hand, or connected with a tapping instru- 
ment hidden in her hair, by means of the assistant's foot 
(the sole of the shoe being cut out entirely, and this opening 
fitting over a hole in the stage, the assistant thus being en- 
abled to touch the sole of the foot), or other methods. 

In some of these tests, especially in those cases in which a 
blackboard is used, the assistant may make use of another 
device. She is seated on the stage, slightly to one side, 
and with her back toward the board. She can tell almost 
instantly the totals of rows of figures written on the board; 
answer questions written thereon, etc. 

The secret lies in the fact that the lady has hidden, either 
in her glove, or fastened to an inner fold of her fan, a small 
mirror, which is capable of reflecting the back portion of 
the stage when held up to the forehead, as if in thought. The 
bandage is so arranged that the assistant can see beneath it, 
and consequently the whole of the stage, when reflected in 
the mirror. Card-sharpers make use of a variation of this 
trick in order to swindle their opponents. They have a small 
mirror concealed either in a ring, or the bowl of a pipe, 
or make use of a small mirror attached to the under side of 
the table. A detailed description of all these and many other 
such methods will be found detailed in J. N. Maskelyne's book, 
Sharps and Flats. 

Some years ago, a great sensation was made by the pro- 
duction of a mind-reading " act," which had every appear- 
ance of being genuine. The effect of the performance is 
this. The performer passes amongst the audience, and has 
a number of suggestions whispered into his ear by different 
individuals. These suggestions are acts which the audience 
wish the assistant upon the stage to do, such as " Tear a 
programme in halves," " Take a handkerchief out of a lady's 



Mind-reading Performances 299 

pocket," " Pull a certain gentleman's hair," " Turn up a 
certain gentleman's trousers," etc. 

After a number of suggestions of this character have been 
whispered into the performer's ear, he turns toward the 
stage, and, without a word being spoken, the assistant comes 
down from the stage and performs every act suggested to 
the performer, and in the order desired. The performer 
and his assistant do not approach one another throughout the 
whole " act," and until she has performed everything cor- 
rectly. 

This feat is accomplished in the following way. The per- 
former and his assistant have first learned by heart a number 
of performances of the kind likely to be requested by an 
audience, in a prearranged order. When this is once done, 
it is obvious that all the performer has to do is to induce his 
sitters to choose these acts, one after another, in the order 
learned previously, and the assistant can execute each in 
turn without further assistance from the performer. This 
may seem an impossible task to one not accustomed to the 
methods employed by conjurers, in " forcing " choices of 
this kind upon an audience. It is, however, a comparatively 
easy task to an expert. He would go about it something 
after this manner. Going up to some gentleman in the audi- 
ence, he would say, " What shall the lady do for you, sir ? 
Shall she pull your hair, turn up your trousers at the bottom, 
or tie a tie in your handkerchief?" — these being the first 
three items on the list, we will say. " Suppose she pull your 
hair," says the performer, as he moves away toward the 
next victim. Unless the person is particularly unsuggest- 
ible, he will acquiesce gracefully, and even feel he had a free 
hand in choosing the act to be performed ! This may sound 
incredible, when placed in print in this cold-blooded manner, 
but when properly presented, the effect is extraordinarily 
deceptive. If, however, the first person is particularly 
strong-willed, and refuses to accept this suggestion, the per- 
former lets him choose any of the other acts on the list, 
merely taking mental notes of those persons who choose the 
various acts, in their proper order. By judicious " forcing," 



300 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

then, the performer manages to get the entire list chosen by 
members of his audience, he remembering who wished each 
act to be performed. 

All this time the band has been playing, but now it ceases, 
and the assistant on the stage turns, faces the audience, and 
steps down among them. The assistant in this act is sup- 
posed to be hypnotized, and the performer accordingly con- 
tinues to make mysterious " passes " over her, at some dis- 
tance. These passes are to indicate the person who wished 
the various movements on the part of the assistant. When 
the assistant has advanced up the aisle of the theatre to the 
row wherein sits the first victim, the performer gives the 
signal by slightly lowering his hands. The assistant then 
knows she is on the right row, and is at the same in- 
stant told whether to turn to the right or the left by the 
performer, who closes the fingers of the hand on the side to 
which the assistant is to turn, the others remaining open. 
The assistant then passes along the row of seats until 
she is in front of the right person, when the performer gives 
another signal — drops one arm slightly, or opens the 
fingers of the closed hand. The assistant then knows she is 
to perform the first act in the list, and upon this person, i. e., 
the one in front of her. In a similar manner the entire list 
is gone through, the performer leading his assistant to each 
person in turn and she performing the acts in the pre- 
arranged order. The " act " is completed without a word 
being spoken. 

This trick is very similar, in principle, to the performance 
of " The Svengalis," whose mind-reading performance lately 
created quite a sensation, and whose act is worked on very 
similar principles to that just given. The performer steps 
down among the audience, while his assistant remains upon 
the stage, with her back to the performer and the audience. 
Names of great personages are whispered into the profes- 
sor's ear, and the assistant upon the stage at once repeats 
the name aloud. A certain popular air from one of the 
operas is then called for, or rather the name is whispered 
into the ear of the performer, and the assistant, who sits in 



Mind-reading Performances 301 

front of an open piano, at once plays the air or selection 
called for. The name of any great composer, author, states- 
man, etc., is likewise at once given by the assistant upon the 
stage, and without leaving it for an instant or once facing 
the audience or the " professor." 

At first sight, it would appear that this performance must 
be explained upon different lines from the last test, as, in 
that case, the performer had the opportunity to direct the 
assistant to the person in the audience, while here, she never 
once leaves the stage, and, moreover, no prearranged code is 
possible, the audience having free choice as to what they will 
select. As a matter of fact, however, the main outlines of 
the performances are the same, the differences being in de- 
tail. 

The key to the performance lies partly in the fact that 
there is a confederate hidden behind a screen, so situated 
that he can see the actions of the performer, in the audience, 
and also see the assistant upon the stage, or rather, so that 
she can see him ; partly in the fact that the signals are given 
by the performer in a series of natural movements, and in- 
terpreted by the assistant behind the screen. The assistant 
upon the stage sees these movements, and knows what is go- 
ing on in the audience. The information is communicated to 
the assistant behind the screen, to be again interpreted, by 
him, for the benefit of the young lady upon the stage. The 
series of touches or movements is quite natural and unlikely 
to be detected by the most shrewd observer. 

Here is an illustration of how the figure system can be 
worked. The famous personages, popular songs, and operas 
are on numbered lists. Svengali, in the aisle, with his code 
of signals, has all these numbers committed to memory. 
When the spectator whispers, " Dickens," Svengali knows it 
is (say) No. 4, and he signals accordingly. But how? 

By touching his head, chin, and breast or that particular 
part of his body designed in the signal code of the Svengali 
Company. . . . Say the human head is used for this purpose. 
Imagine the top of the head, right-hand side, as No. 1, the 
right ear as No. 2, the jaw as No. 3, and the neck as the 



302 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

cipher, the forehead No. 4, the nose No. 5, the chin No. 6, 
the top of the head on the left side as No. 7, the left ear No. 
8, and the left side of the jaw No. 9. Thus you have the 
code system by which operators can communicate volumes by 
using a codified list of numbered words or sentences. If you 
label the Lord's Prayer No. 4, and the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence No. 5, you may instantly telegraph the mighty 
literature through wireless space, — enough literature to save 
all Europe from anarchy, — by two natural movements of 
the hands. You can label your eyes, your movements, or even 
your glances, making them take the places of the nine omnip- 
otent numbers. Again: Glance upward to the right for 
No. 1, straight upward for No. % and upward to the left 
for No. 3 ; repeating, glance horizontally for Nos. 4, 5, and 
6. Repeating the same again by glancing downward for 7, 

8, and 9, and stroking the chin for the cipher. With your 
back to the audience, you can telegraph in a similar way, 
using your arm and elbow to make the necessary signals. 
Let the right arm, hanging down, represent No. 1, the elbow 
projecting from the side, No. 2, the elbow raised, No. S. Re- 
peat with the left arm for Nos. 4, 5, and 6; with either 
hand placed naturally behind you on the small of the back, 
above the belt, and over your shoulder for Nos. 7, 8, and 

9, and on the back of your head for the cipher. 
Another method of signalling information to the assistant 

upon the stage, is by means of certain movements of the 
fingers, they fingering the watch-chain, touching the buttons 
of the coat and waistcoat, etc., in a series of natural move- 
ments. The assistant is, in this case, blindfolded, and her 
head enveloped in a sack; but she is enabled to see all that 
happens, nevertheless, by making use of the methods and de- 
vices explained on p. 294. The sack is " doctored " by plac- 
ing pieces of crape before the eyes, and the assistant is so 
placed that she can see the performer either directly, or by 
means of a small mirror, mentioned above. The performer 
and his assistant have learned a code of signals, and it is 
an easy matter to interpret them so soon as she can obtain 
a view of the performer and his movements. 



Mind-reading Performances 303 

In order to make clear this method of signalling, I give 
a tentative description of the methods that might be em- 
ployed in communicating numbers and letters, this serving 
as a clue to the many methods that are worked in this manner, 
and by some more or less similar means. 

The signals would be about as follows. I begin with those 
for the left hand. 

Code A. The performer's right hand is playing with his 
watch-chain. The left hand and arm are hanging down by 
the side : " I am giving numbers." Left hand akimbo at hip ; 
" I am spelling something." Left hand at lapel of coat, 
near top button: " I am giving abbreviations." If left hand 
moves slightly, say three inches or so, while in any of these 
positions : " I am giving a color by its number." Shifting 
your weight from one foot to the other, means : " I am start- 
ing," or " I am through." 

This last sign is used in the following way: if the per- 
former only kept his right hand at the watch-chain when 
necessary, it might arouse suspicion, therefore the medium 
must receive some signal when the performer commences sig- 
nalling. That is done by standing with the legs a few inches 
apart, and shifting the weight of the body from one leg to 
the other, which gives a kind of swaying motion to the body 
scarcely noticeable to the uninitiated, but enough for the 
medium. When through giving signs, instead of always 
moving the hand from the chain, suddenly, which would also 
be suspicious, keep your hand there, but shift your weight 
back to the other foot, meaning, " All through ; " then, even 
if you keep up the playing with the chain, the medium knows 
that there is no further meaning to it. 

Code B. Next we come to the signs of the right hand. 
I shall first explain the ten figures: it is to be presumed 
that the performer wears a dress coat with a low-cut vest 
and carries his watch in his lower left-hand vest pocket, with 
the staple in the second or middle buttonhole. It is advisable 
to have the chain several inches longer than the usual length. 
The chain itself has nothing to do with the signalling; it is 
the right hand alone that must be watched by the medium, 



304 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

and the portion of the vest on which the finger-tips rest, in- 
dicates what number is meant. 

For figure 1, pick up the chain at its middle, and place 
finger-tips against the bottom of vest, directly in a perpen- 
dicular line from the watch-pocket. 

No. 2. Finger-tips at watch-pocket. 

No. 3. Above watch-pocket near upper pocket. One, two, 
and three are on the left side of the vest. 

No. 4. At bottom of vest, where the two parts of vest 
meet. 

No. 5. At or near the staple. 

Four, five, and six are in the centre of vest; for 
" cipher " the sign is made by twisting the chain around the 
right thumb, without the help of the fingers. The chain 
should generally be held by its centre, when it will be easy to 
reach the various portions of the vest. For one, four, and 
seven, go as low down as the chain will permit, for three, six, 
and nine, as high as you can. 

We now come to a description of the alphabet. I omit K 
and Q at first. A is made just as figure one, B as two, C as 
three, D as four, E as five, F as six, G as seven, H as 
eight, and I as nine. Then we begin over again: J is one, 
L is two, M is three, N is four, O is five, P is six, R is 
seven, S is eight, T is nine, but for these letters J to T shake 
the chain a little, while, in the former cases, A to I, the hand 
is held almost quiet. Twirling the chain slightly will not give 
a decided motion ; shaking the chain gives a decided up and 
down motion to the hand, and is distinctly visible even at 
fifty or sixty feet distant. Care must be taken that the 
finger-tips remain near the places one, two, etc., and not mid- 
way between any two numbers. Practise before a mirror, so 
as not to get the habit of looking at the hand, and see that 
the movements look careless, and not stiff, jerky, or violent. 

The letters U and W are given the same as the cipher, 
by twisting the chain around the thumb, describing a circle 
with the hand; but in U, the circle is made at 4, 1, 2, and 
5, that is, on the lower left side of the vest ; in W it is made 
at 5, 2, 6, or upper left of vest. The remaining letters, 



Mind-reading Performances 305 

K and Q, are given by twisting the chain around the first 
or index finger; this will make the circles go in the opposite 
direction. 

The remaining letters are given by a kind of whip move- 
ment. Grip the chain tightly between the first and second 
lingers and thumb, and make a stroke up and down, as if the 
chain were a whip. This will give to the hand a kind of 
violent up and down movement. If made in the centre of the 
vest, and only once, it is a Y ; if twice in quick succession it 
means Z. If at watch-pocket twice, 1-2, 1-2, it means X. 

This alphabet should be thoroughly learned and diligently 
practised, using small words to start. To show where one 
word ends and the next one begins, drop the chain from the 
right hand, remove the hand three or four inches, and then 
pick it up again, at X, for the next word. Do not forget 
to shift your weight at the beginning and end of the sen- 
tence. If figures are mixed in with words, for example, 
" house with three windows," drop your left hand at the end 
of " house with," to the side, and make the three, then raise 
it again to the hip, and spell the next word. 

I next give a very clever test in which the assistant stands 
in front of a blackboard, with chalk in her hands, and writes 
upon the board whatever number, date, card, etc., is whis- 
pered into the performer's ear, when he is amongst the audi- 
ence, not a word being spoken throughout this test, and it is 
obvious that there is no communication of any sort between 
performer and assistant. The performer moves about freely 
amongst the audience, the only condition required being that 
absolute silence be maintained. 

In this case, there exists a secret code very similar to that 
last explained, the numbers, letters, etc., being given or 
communicated in a very similar manner. The whole ques- 
tion is that of communicating the information, and this is 
done in a very ingenious manner. The assistant upon the 
stage breathes deeply and regularly, so that the performer 
can see the movement of her shoulders from where he stands, 
care being taken, however, not to overdo this part of the 



306 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

performance, and render the movement noticeable to any 
person in the audience. The performer starts his assistant 
by making some slight noise or movement, and from that in- 
stant the silent counting begins. It is for this reason that 
" absolute silence " is requested, so as to render the signals 
plainly distinguishable by the assistant upon the stage. 
After she has counted up to a certain number, the number 
required (i e., after she has taken that number of breaths), 
the performer interrupts her breathing, and the assistant 
knows the number to place upon the board. The counting 
then begins again, from the moment the sound of the chalk 
ceases to mark the blackboard — the performer again inter- 
rupting the breathing at the next number or letter, as the 
case may be, by again making a slight sound or movement. 
This process is continued until the whole message is com- 
municated, the assistant writing down each word or figure 
in turn, no word being spoken throughout the entire per- 
formance. If the lady upon the stage is so placed that she 
can see the performer, a slight movement on his part, at 
the required number, is all that is required. No noise will 
then be necessary, this being an improvement in some re- 
spects, though detracting from the general effect of the 
trick, inasmuch as the assistant can see the performer. 

There is a method of performing this act which is far 
superior to that just described. The general method is the 
same, but, instead of the breathing being necessary, the per- 
former and his assistant have substituted a method of count- 
ing mentally and together. It is a known fact that the beats 
for common time are always the same in music; therefore, 
with little practice, it is easy for two persons, starting on 
a given signal, to count at the same time and rate, and, 
when another signal is given, to stop, and of course they 
will both have arrived at the same number. The performer 
and his assistant count together, mentally, until they are 
sure that they both count in exactly the same time, when 
the hardest portion of this method will have been overcome. 
The signals of when to stop and when to commence have 
now to be learned, and these are, in this instance, very in- 



Mind-reading Performances 307 

genious. Suppose the date of a coin is to be transmitted. 
It is generally understood that most coins begin with the 
figure 1, and that much may be taken for granted. The per- 
former stands up at the blackboard, his assistant being on 
the opposite side of the stage, and awaits her replies. She 
begins, " The first figure I see is a 1." From the instant 
she has ceased speaking, both she and the performer begin 
counting together. Suppose the next number is an 8. The 
performer waits until he (and consequently his assistant) 
has mentally counted eight breaths, before he marks upon 
the board, when he writes the figure 1, as directed. The 
assistant now knows that the next number is eight and so 
states. Before marking down the 8, however, the performer 
waits until they have both counted up to the next number 
on the coin, say 9. After mentally counting nine, then, the 
performer writes down the 8, previously given, and the assist- 
ant, hearing the sound of the chalk, knows the number next 
in order, and so on indefinitely. Both performer and his 
assistant keep just "one ahead" throughout; the sound of 
the chalk on the blackboard being the signal for when to 
stop and when to commence. As the performer and his 
assistant both count quite rapidly, there is scarcely any 
noticeable wait between the time the number is called out 
by the assistant and the writing of that number on the board. 
The performer may fill up the intervening time, in the case 
of the longer intervals, by pretending to look at the coin and 
ascertain whether the number given by his assistant is cor- 
rect. In other cases a more or less elaborate circular sweep 
of the arm will suffice. A sharp tap on the board, or the 
drawing of a line under the figures, will tell the assistant that 
the date is now fully given and the counting may cease. 

In case the number of a bank-note, e. g., is to be given, 
instead of the date on a coin, the same plan is adopted 
throughout, except, in this case, the assistant cannot take 
for granted the fact that the first number is 1. The signal 
to start is therefore given by the assistant, who raises her 
hand to her head, as if in thought, and from that moment, 
both performer and assistant commence counting together. 



308 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

When the required number has been reached, the performer 
gives a sigh, or takes a quick step, or gives some other signal 
to indicate that the first number has been reached. The 
assistant accordingly announces it, and the performer waits 
the proper time, before marking it on the board, as in the 
other test, this giving to the assistant the second number, and 
so on throughout, until the signal to " stop " is given. Card 
tests are frequently given by stacking the deck. Such tests 
as the knight's tour of the chess board, etc., are pure feats 
of memory, and need no code for their performance, the 
moves all having been learned by heart long before, and 
given in the regular order. 

The mind-reading performance of the Baldwins has fre- 
quently been exposed. A very good account of their enter- 
tainment is given in Proceedings S. P. R. f Vol. XI., pp. 
225-8, and the outlines of their method explained. A 
slightly more detailed explanation of the actual modus ope- 
randi I give herewith. 

During the early part of the performance, a number of 
slips of paper are distributed among the audience, with the 
request that they write on them questions such as " Who stole 
my watch? " They are then asked to fold them up and 
place them in their pockets, and keep their minds on the 
contents. They are also requested to sign their full name 
on the slips. During the latter part of the performance, 
Mrs. Baldwin is brought upon the stage, in a supposed 
" hypnotic " state. She starts by saying : " I have an im- 
pression; it comes from the centre of the house; it is from 
James Brown ; he wishes to know who stole his pocketbook." 
Mr. Baldwin now asks for the slip, and Mrs. Baldwin either 
describes, or gives the initials of the person who stole the 
pocketbook, probably telling when it was stolen, and the 
amount of money it contained. In this manner she answers 
three or four questions, when she appears to be " chilled." A 
piece of cloth is thrown over her, and she answers the rest 
of the questions, and probably describes some recent murder. 

The secret of this feat is as follows: 

Amongst the audience are placed four or five confederates 



Mind-reading Performances 309 

who take slips of paper, but instead of writing questions, 
they take copies of the questions that are written by those 
around them, giving the row and the number of the seat; 
and, if they cannot make out the name, they give a descrip- 
tion of the writer's dress. These slips are passed to the at- 
tendants when they collect the pencils and the small tablets 
from which the slips are torn. They are taken to Mrs. 
Baldwin, and a list is made of them with such answers as 
they see fit. When possible, information of lost friends is 
obtained. Additional information is obtained by taking into 
confidence the manager or treasurer of the house. For in- 
stance, if some person, when buying a ticket, tells the treas- 
urer that he has lost some article, and that he is going to 
ask Baldwin about it, the treasurer makes a note of this, and 
also the seat the person buys. In her act, Mrs. Baldwin 
uses this information. Marked change is frequently given 
to persons buying seats, e. g., a dollar bill, the number of 
which is known to the ticket agent, or a half-dollar, of which 
he knows the year, etc. A note is made of the number of 
the ticket to the purchaser of which this marked change is 
given, and, later on in the performance, a gentleman sitting 
in " C, 3," is astonished to find that the medium has informed 
him correctly when she stated that he had in his pocket a 
dollar bill, the number of which was C7768493, and another 
gentleman is equally surprised to be informed that he has 
in his pocket a half-dollar, of the date of 1862 ! These are 
given as " spontaneous tests," and so appear all the more 
remarkable. 

Before Mrs. Baldwin goes on to the stage she conceals in 
her dress the list of questions ; but she commits four or five 
of them to memory, which she gives first. When these are 
exhausted, she has the cloth thrown over her, which gives her 
an opportunity to consult the list. For each performance, 
one or two questions are worked up by the confederates, for 
the star test of the evening. These usually relate to some 
great local sensation, such as a murder, or a railroad acci- 
dent. By this method it is obvious that a tremendous amount 
of sensation can be produced, limited only by the skill of 



i 



310 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the performers. Still further information can be obtained 
by having a lady and gentleman confederate make a sys- 
tematic canvass of the towns where the performer intends 
playing (v. pp. 312-18). It will hardly be necessary for me 
to describe a performance of the Baldwins in any further de- 
tail, as the actual working out of the tricks can be easily 
imagined. 

I shall conclude this chapter by briefly mentioning the 
performance of " The Fays," which has lately been causing 
quite a sensation. Their performance is very similar to that 
of the Baldwins, the pads being passed round in the same 
manner, and the information being obtained in the same man- 
ner, to a large extent, also. In their performance, however, 
recourse is made to the prepared pads mentioned on p. 277, 
a duplicate of the written question being taken on an under 
sheet in the pad. Some persons receive answers to questions 
written by themselves upon an envelope, programme, etc., 
which never leaves their possession, and, when this is the case, 
the information has usually been obtained through the 
ushers, or assistants, or through the confederates, as in the 
last case. The Fays also employ a large number of con- 
federates, and very many of the most astonishing " tests " 
are doubtless received and claimed by them. The majority 
of the questions that are answered, however, are those which 
were written on the pads that were handed round to the 
audience by the assistants, and the pads afterward collected 
by them. The part of the house from which each question 
comes may be indicated by having the paper marked, or by 
having the pads slightly different in color, etc. All these 
slips of paper are collected, and opened and read in the 
interval that elapses between Parts 1 and 2 of their per- 
formance. When Miss Fay comes on to the stage, therefore, 
in Part 2, she has in her possession duplicates of all the 
questions that were written on the pads, as well as much 
miscellaneous information about various sitters, scattered in 
different parts of the house, as well as the sure tests afforded 
by the confederates, who are instructed to acknowledge any- 
thing said to them by the medium as true. When the thick 



Mind-reading Performances 311 

cloth is thrown over her head, therefore, she gets out a minia- 
ture pocket-lamp, and, by its aid, proceeds to read and an- 
swer all the papers she has in her possession. It has been 
stated (by Lambourne, a former assistant to the Fays) that 
the messages were telephoned to Miss Fay from beneath the 
stage. This may have been employed in some cases, but the 
former method is doubtless the one usually employed. 

I cannot stop to consider these public performances at 
greater length now. The methods of obtaining information 
are so numerous, and the codes employed so ingenious, that 
it is practically impossible for the average person to detect 
the fraud that is invariably practised, in exhibitions such as 
these. 



CHAPTER XVII 

TRANCE, " TEST SEANCES," ETC. 

The most mysterious factor in these " test seances," in 
which the medium either passes into trance, or receives clair- 
voyant " impressions " in a more or less normal condition, 
is the fact that the medium displays a knowledge of the 
sitter and his affairs which could not have been learned by 
any normal means (apparently), and which serve as the most 
convincing evidence of the presence of the departed, since 
a proof of identity is here established, which is missing in all 
the other phenomena (v. pp. 333-4). The medium states 
certain facts about the sitter — his past life, etc. — and dis- 
plays a general knowledge of his family and personal life 
which must have been obtained either by a direct knowledge 
of the facts, or in some supernormal way. Thus, at least, 
thinks that sitter. Names of relatives long dead are given, 
together with their personal description ; statements of 
the disease from which they died ; personal characteristics, 
etc., — it is all very convincing. So much so, indeed, that 
the average sitter fails to distinguish the real evidence, and 
goes away with his mind in a hopeless muddle, in which real 
knowledge, general advice, warnings as to the future, and a 
hundred other things are indescribably mixed! For our 
present purposes, however, we shall discard such material as 
might have been obtained by " fishing," remarks let drop by 
the sitter, etc., and confine ourselves to a consideration of 
the manner in which the real evidence is obtained, that which 
is really good, " test evidence," and see whence the medium 
derived this knowledge. 

312 



Trance, " Test Seances," etc. 313 

The obvious way to obtain knowledge about any person is 
to go and get it ! and the mediums have always proceeded on 
that plan. Every avenue to knowledge, every way by which 
the medium could obtain information about sitters, has 
been turned to account. I quote the following passage 
from Truesdell's Spiritualism, Bottom Facts, pp. 310-12, 
as giving a very good idea of the methods usually em- 
ployed by mediums of this class, in acquiring their informa- 
tion. 

" The most feasible way of introducing yourself to a new 
town is by means of a systematic canvass of the same, with 
the ostensible purpose of disposing of some manner of mer- 
chandise, such as books, patent medicines, and household 
utensils. Do not disclose to any one your real business, or 
your ultimate design. Keep your eyes and ears open, and 
learn all you possibly can, both of the living and the dead, 
among prominent spiritualists. Provide yourself with a 
blank book suitable for the pocket, which contains an index. 
Under the proper letter, record every name and date which 
you imagine may be of future service. From these notes, you 
will be able to prepare, at your leisure, such a history as will 
materially assist you afterward. By the exercise of a little 
shrewdness, you can soon learn, at the post-office and prin- 
cipal news-rooms of the town, who are the greatest readers 
of spiritual papers, while the local cemetery will furnish you 
with desirable information concerning their friends who have 
passed into spirit life. With the names and dates thus se- 
cured, you will be able, in most instances, to make your brief 
histories more complete by referring to the obituary no- 
tices so plentifully to be found in the files of the local news- 
papers. 

" This preliminary work is called ' planting a town.' The 
larger the area planted, and the more thorough the work, the 
more abundant the harvest. When you have carefully can- 
vassed one town, according to these directions, proceed to 
another, and there repeat your labors. Never think of enter- 
ing upon the harvest until you have planted at least six 
towns, though double the number would be still better. If, 



314 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

by any means, you can sustain yourself for a period suffi- 
cient to thoroughly plant from twelve to twenty large towns, 
a good business is virtually ensured to you for life." 

" There is strength in unity ! " So thought the mediums, 
too. While, in the early days, each medium doubtless had 
to gather his own information, by his own efforts, in the 
manner above described, it gradually dawned upon the me- 
diums throughout the country that if they were to " combine 
their forces," so to speak, i. e., if they were to all contribute 
to some general headquarters whatever information they 
had been enabled to gather in their travels through the 
country, and if each medium covered different territory, they 
would soon have a tremendous fund of information about 
spiritualists and persons in the habit of frequenting seances, 
which any medium travelling through that section of the 
country could use thenceforward. The idea was a brilliant 
one, and accordingly a " brotherhood " of mediums was 
formed, each member of the organization binding himself to 
turn into the " public fund " whatever information he ob- 
tained concerning sitters, their dead friends and relatives, etc. 
As numbers of mediums were constantly travelling over all 
parts of the country, it will readily be seen that, in the 
course of a few years, a great mass of information was ac- 
cumulated, which was arranged, printed, and circulated 
among the mediums who had joined the Brotherhood. So 
closely was this secret guarded from the public, however, 
that it was in operation many years before any inkling was 
had of such a publication being in existence. It was called 
the " Blue Book," and its present size and thoroughness may 
be imagined when I state that the Blue Book contains about 
seven thousand names devoted to Boston alone! Other cities 
are in proportion. 1 Supplemental lists, giving the latest in- 
formation, are issued from time to time. Those who are ex- 
ceptionally credulous are marked " dead easy ! " I here- 
with quote a typical page from one of these Blue Books, re- 
lating to Cincinnati, Ohio. (The names are altered, in order 
* Mysteries of the Seance, p. 4. 



Trance, " Test Seances," etc. 315 

to prevent the identity of the person mentioned being dis- 
covered. ) 

FOE CINCINNATI, OHIO 

G, A. Anson, Merchant 

Spt. Dau. Elsie, died '76, age 14 mos., diphtheria, blonde, 
blue eyes. 

Spt. Moth. Eleanor Anson, died '67, consumption, age 56, 
dark. 

Spt. Fath. Nathan E. Anson, died '71, pneumonia, age 
64, light. 

Spt. Friend, Andy Nugent, schoolmates at Oberlin, O. 

S. O. Atwood, Shoe Dealer 

Spt. Son, Albert E., '74, lung fever, 19 years, blonde, only 
child. His parents keep his books and clothing. He is al- 
ways described as a student with book in hand. Good mark 
for private sittings. 

R. B. Barker, Rich 

Spt. Dau. Alice E., age 19, pneumonia, '79, upper front 
teeth gold-filled. Extraordinarily long hair. Quite an art- 
ist, and one of her landscapes hangs in the parlor in gilt 
and plush frame. Spirit painting of her in the sitting-room, 
that is kept curtained. She is an artist in spirit world. 
Supposed to have a son in spirit that had no earth life, 
named Egbert O. 

Spt. Son, Egbert O., never had earth existence; an in- 
ventor in spirit life and supposed to work through Thos. 
Edison. Is especially interested in electrical work. 

Spt. Fath. Robert B., died '69, paralysis. Manufacturer 
of machinery, two fingers off left hand. 

Spt. Mother, Sarah, died when he was a child. 

Spt. Broth. James and Samuel. 

Spt. Aunt, Lucy Wilkinson, Mary Wilkinson, and Eliza 
Shandrow. 



316 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Remarks. — A good mark for private seances at his home, 
and will pay well. Dead gone on physical manifestations 
and materialization. Will get up lots of seances. Agree 
with everything he says and you are all right. 

A. T. Baton 

Spt. Son, Albert F., drowned under suspension bridge, 
May, '87. Sends message of greeting to Aunt Mary and 
Cousin Harry. 

Spt. Father, A. O. Baton, died '84, railroad accident in 
Illinois. Is looking for private papers supposed to have 
been left by him. Sends love to his wife Kate in Covington. 

Now it can very readily be seen that, with such a fund of 
information at his back, the medium can go into any town 
fully armed with a wonderful lot of knowledge about pro- 
spective sitters. It does not matter in the least whether he 
has been there before or not; or whether he has ever seen 
the sitter before, either. If he can only find out the identity 
of his sitter, the rest is " plain sailing." He procures this 
information in a variety of ways. In many cases, the sitter 
gives his name himself, feeling that the medium and he are 
perfect strangers, and consequently there can be no harm 
in telling his name, as it would furnish the medium with 
no more information about himself than the name itself would 
supply. Fatal error! As soon as the medium becomes aware 
of the sitter's identity, he excuses himself for a few mo- 
ments (to get slates, or what not), and consults his Blue 
Book, finding out what it has to say about this particular 
person. Armed with this information, he is prepared to give 
his sitter a most convincing " test seance." 

But suppose the sitter does not give his name to the me- 
dium? There are many ways of finding this out that will 
suggest themselves. The sitter's name may be marked inside 
his hat ; or letters may be in the pockets of his overcoat, — 
left in the hall, — which the medium is careful to examine. 
Or the information may be let drop in the conversation. 
But there are safer ways than all these of finding out the 



Trance, " Test Seances," etc. 317 

sitter's identity, and that is to make sure of it before the 
seance! The medium does this by disguising himself and 
attending a number of seances given by some local medium, 
in the capacity of onlooker, and notices carefully the sitters 
present. After the seance, he goes up to the medium who 
has " provided the phenomena for that occasion," and re- 
quests that the identity of the various sitters be made known 
to him. If both mediums are in the Brotherhood, this is 
aways done, and the medium goes away possessed of a large 
fund of information about spiritualists in that section, since 
the resident medium probably possesses a very good knowl- 
edge of all the prominent believers in the locality. After 
attending several of these seances, the medium is ready to 
commence operations on his own account; he doffs his dis- 
guise, and boldly advertises himself as " the world famous 
so-and-so, just arrived in this part of the country, and for 
a short time only will give a series of test seances," etc. As 
the medium is now " primed " for his sitters, they will receive 
the most astonishing tests, and (that most convincing of all 
tests, to the average person) will have their name told them 
by the medium without their having mentioned it or spoken 
a word, — they never having seen the medium before ! Pos- 
sibly not, but that does not argue that the medium has never 
seen them before. 

Mediums will resort to any sort of trickery or device to 
obtain the desired information about their sitters, present 
or prospective. Truesdell, e. g., in his Spiritualism, Bottom 
Facts, pp. 317-8, says: 

" Never neglect an opportunity to gain information which 
will aid you in your professional venture. When you are in- 
vited out, as you are sure to be, to dine, always seek to draw 
your host or hostess into a discussion in the course of which 
you will be obliged to call for the family Bible, in order to 
prove some statement made, and, while looking for the re- 
quired passage, carefully note the records of birth and death 
which are therein preserved. This will give you a point, and 
such ' points ' compose the chief stock in trade of every true 
medium." 



318 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

I am glad to be through with this part of my subject, 
which grows revolting. The methods employed by fraudu- 
lent mediums in obtaining their information about sitters, 
arouse our disgust, at times, even though they may arouse a 
sort of admiration at others — admiration for the ingenuity 
of the means and methods devised, and amazement at the 
effrontery which enables the medium to come before the 
whole American public with the statement that this trans- 
parent trickery constitutes real evidence of spirit return! 
Nevertheless, these pseudo-mental manifestations are, after 
all, by far the most convincing and the most sane phenomena 
that spiritism presents. It has always been a great difficulty 
for many of us to see wherein the evidence for a future life 
came, in the purely physical manifestations, ever granting 
that they were genuine. But, as they are, in the vast ma- 
jority of cases, such transparent frauds, it is really hard 
to see wherein the connection between these phenomena and 
spiritualism comes in. Even were the movements of objects, 
etc., genuine phenomena, it would point, merely, it seems to 
me, to some new force operative in the physical world, and 
have nothing whatever to do with " spirits." However, it 
is impossible to foresee how the public mind will be affected 
by phenomena of this character — far less the individual in 
that public! 



PART II 
THE GENUINE 



CHAPTER XVIII 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



We now turn to a consideration of certain phenomena 
which have the appearance of being genuine in character, 
and not the results of conscious and voluntary fraud. Be- 
fore actually doing so, however, some few remarks of a 
more or less general nature are necessary if we are to under- 
stand the problem aright. I must begin by saying that the 
scientific world, of late years, has been split into two factions 
over the question of the validity of the study of certain phe- 
nomena, which, for want of a better name, have been termed 
" psychic." And, just here, I wish to remark that many if 
not all of the misunderstandings would have disappeared if 
the question were rightly considered, as a question of facts, 
and not as a question of interpretation of facts. Most scien- 
tific men refuse to investigate psychic phenomena for the 
reason that they object to the interpretation of those phenom- 
ena which the spiritist puts upon them, and do not seem to 
realize that the facts, as such, exist, whatever interpretation 
we choose to put upon them ; that the question of whether 
a table is raised off the floor without visible support, e. g., is 
one that can be settled by purely scientific means, and is 
quite independent of any question of " spiritual agencies," 
or any explanatory hypothesis whatever. The fact is one 
that can be settled by direct experiment; the object is to 
see whether the phenomenon exists in reality or not. It is 
largely owing to the erroneous idea that the prevailing inter- 
pretation of the phenomena must be accepted if the facts 
themselves are, and that the two are inseparable, that scien- 

321 



322 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

tific men have held aloof from the question until late years, 
and even now the savants are approaching the subject in 
fear and trembling! 

A tremendous amount of prejudice has existed in this field, 
and against the investigation of the phenomena from the 
very commencement of its study. Huxley, 1 Tyndall, 2 Fara- 
day, 3 Haeckel, 4 all showed themselves highly prejudiced 
when it came to this subject; and, worse still, totally igno- 
rant of the evidence that had been accumulated by others. 
The type of mind still exists, and may be found in the writ- 
ings of many scientists to-day. Dr. E. Hart is an example 
of the newer school, his Hypnotism, Mesmerism, and the New 
Witchcraft being a most self -contradictory and absurd book 
from start to finish. Professor Sidgwick of Cambridge, 
England, accused him of being " totally ignorant of the sub- 
ject he attacked," which was a fact. Snyder (y. New Concep- 
tions in Science) and other writers occupy the same position. 
It is not the province of this book to attack any writer, or 
any school, but merely to point out the fact that the major- 
ity of critics of psychic phenomena, who have pronounced 
against their investigation, were not fitted to pronounce judg- 
ment upon this branch of science, owing to their lack of 
training in this particular field. 

The question is, therefore, whether the phenomena occur, 
as stated, or whether they do not. It is useless to deny them 
offhand, and a priori, since we know far too little about the 
universe to say just what phenomena are possible and what 
are not. In a general sense, doubtless, we all feel that there 
is a certain limit to the " possible," and that, when it is as- 
serted that certain phenomena occur, which phenomena are 
beyond the bounds of what we consider possible and rational, 
these phenomena did not really occur but that there must 
have been some mistake in the evidence or the record, which, 
if discovered, would have enabled us to explain the phenom- 
ena by normal laws. It is only natural that each one of us 

1 Dialectical Committee Report, p. 278. 

8 Op. cit., p. 265; Fragments of Science, pp. 336-42. 

3 Planchette, the Despair of Science. 

4 Riddle of the Universe, p. 305. 



General Considerations 323 

should have this innate sense of the possible and the impos- 
sible, but we should also remember that in each one of us 
is this sense limited differently, so that what would be per- 
fectly possible and even rational to one man, would be quite 
impossible and the height of absurdity to another ! And it 
is just here that the spirit of toleration should be shown, in 
investigations such as these, where so little is known that it 
is certainly unsafe to dogmatize and assert, in too offhand 
a manner, the limits of the possible. Unless we are omni- 
scient, and know all the laws of nature, we cannot say what 
is possible and what is not. What the masses think, in these 
matters, is of no consequence, since we know that the crowd 
is always behind the times in its knowledge and beliefs, 1 so 
that the whole question is merely one of facts, which should 
be capable of scientific proof or disproof; it is at least en- 
titled to scientific investigation. 2 

As Professor Hyslop so forcibly stated, 3 " the phenomena 
cannot be laughed away," merely, since " the phenomena 
exist whether they are investigated or not." 4 It is for sci- 
ence to see whether they do exist, or whether they are merely 
the results of fraud and trickery, or natural laws and causes, 
or the combination of all of these. Needless to say, this is 
a perfectly legitimate scientific problem, and should be con- 
sidered as such. 

At the same time I would insist, as strongly as my severest 
critic, that the standard of evidence should be kept very high 
in this field, where trickery and fraud are so common, and 
credulity so universal. The scientist has little in common 
with many spiritualists, and rightly so. His temper of mind 
is as different as possible. It is the object of the Society 
for Psychical Research and psychical researchers generally 
to fill this gap, and to bridge over the space between the relig- 
ious and scientific worlds. It is to make the question of the 

1 The Crowd, p. 72-3. 

2 In this connection, see Proc. S. P. R.< Vol. XVIII. , pp. 5-6; Mason, 
Telepathy, p. 110; Evidence for a Future Life, p. 212; There is No Death, 
pp. 51-2; Miracles and Modern Spiritualism, pp. 14, 15, 35; Hutchinson, 
Dreams, pp. 247, 250. 298. etc. 

3 Science and a Future Life, p. 364. 

* Dialectical Committee Report, p. 231. 



324 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

survival of the soul one of scientific evidence, i. e., one that 
can be settled by actual experiment, just as any other scien- 
tific question can be settled by that means. 1 It is useless to 
say that this can never be so. Spiritualism can be made as 
scientific and as legitimate a branch of investigation as any 
other branch whatever ; it all depends on the spirit in which 
the problem is attacked. No one, who has been saturated 
with the scientific spirit to any degree, can fail to appreciate 
that there are many objections to psychic phenomena, many 
of these being objections to a future life. But it must be 
acknowledged that these considerations would be valueless in 
face of evidence which would prove this theorizing erroneous. 
It is not, after all, a question of theory, but of fact. If the 
facts go to prove a future life, or the reality of the phenom- 
ena investigated, whatever their nature, it must be acknowl- 
edged that theory would be helpless in face of the facts. 
What the S. P. R. and investigators along these lines have 
endeavored to do, therefore, is to place to one side the theo- 
retical considerations entirely, and to devote themselves to a 
study of the facts. If these are ever established, it must 
be granted that the path is cut for a scientific inquiry into 
psychical research phenomena. 

It must be acknowledged, on the other hand, that psy- 
chical research is as yet in a very crude and imperfect state, 
and that next to nothing is known of the laws underlying 
the phenomena observed. That is only to be expected, in 
a science so new as this. It must be remembered that, 
whereas all the other sciences had been preparing for the 
great strides of the past century for two hundred and fifty 
years, the science of psychical research has only just begun. 
When that length of time shall have elapsed, and no results 
are perceived, then it will be time enough to begin wondering 
whether the investigation of psychical research phenomena 
is waste of time or not ! Until that length of time shall have 
elapsed, however, it is both useless and premature to specu- 

1 This idea has, of course, more or less influenced the thought of the 
scientific world since the publication of Drummond's Natural Law in the 
Spiritual World. 



General Considerations 325 

late as to the ultimate outcome or utility of the phenomena 
observed. 

I wish to break off, just here, and consider this question 
of " utility " at some length, since it is the question most 
frequently asked of all those interested in psychical research 
problems in a serious way. It is asked: what is the use of 
these facts, these phenomena? Even granting that they 
exist in reality, that they are real facts in nature, and not 
the results, merely, of disordered imaginations or fraud 
alone; still, of what use are the phenomena? What prac- 
tical benefit can be derived from their study? 

Were this question put to me I should reply, as I replied 
several years ago, a propos to this very point : " What is 
the use of any scientific investigation, except to find out facts 
generally unknown and unrecognized? Every new truth ac- 
quired, every scrap of information gained by persistent 
effort is of great importance in helping us to understand 
and unravel the mysteries of the universe which surround 
us on every side; and especially is this the case in our at- 
tempts to understand that by which and through which every 
phenomenon is known and understood — the human mind." * 
The mere fact of asking the question shows a sordid, narrow 
outlook, colored and influenced only by that which will mate- 
rially and at once benefit the investigator himself, with no 
thought for the welfare of the human race, present or future, 
or any idea of the use of work and effort not obviously con- 
ducted for the benefit of the individual himself. A selfish 
outlook, truly! It is, moreover, a most unscientific outlook. 
No matter whether the facts seem to indicate any useful 
purpose or not, so long as they are facts science must inves- 
tigate them, or itself cease to be scientific. Its duty is not 
to interpret the facts discovered, but to establish their real- 
ity. " No matter where an unprejudiced search after truth 
may lead an investigator," says Doctor Ostwald, 2 " if his 
work is that of an honest scientist, it must and will finally 
turn out to be for the benefit of mankind." Mr. W. M. 

1 Metaphysical Magazine, January-March, 1903, p. 198. 

2 Individuality and Immortality, p. 3. 



326 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Wilkinson, in a letter to Professor Faraday, asked that 
gentleman if Cui bono? " has been introduced into science 
as a bar to inquiry, and if so, when ? " 1 

It is useless to talk of the " use " of any scientific fact ; the 
question is: is it a fact at all, or is it not? That, of course, 
must be ascertained by experiment. But we know that there 
are many facts that do actually exist, the use of which is 
not plain to our limited understanding. As Mr. Lang sp 
cleverly remarked, in speaking of psychical research prob- 
lems in general and apparitions in particular, " What is the 
' use ? of argon ? Why are cockroaches ' permitted ? ' " 

This last remark brings me to another consideration, the 
objection that is frequently raised by the religious to the 
study of these phenomena. " These are hidden secrets," they 
assert, " which God does not intend us to fathom or know. 
God did not intend that phenomena such as these should ever 
happen, in any such manner as to render it possible that they 
should be subjected to scientific investigation, so-called, and 
often subjected indeed to a materialistic interpretation. The 
phenomena cannot exist, as stated; it would be against all 
reason, no less than the evidence of Holy Writ 1 " 

To my mind, at least, the answer to the whole objection 
again sums itself up into the one question: Do the phenom- 
ena really occur? That is the whole issue. If they really 
do occur, then God (if we grant that there is a God who 
"permits" things) must let the phenomena occur, since 
they really take place. If He did not permit them, then they 
would not occur. Consequently, there would be nothing to 
fear on that score. If, on the other hand, the phenomena 
are proved to really exist, then God must permit them, for 
otherwise their occurrence would be an impossibility. Again, 
it is merely a question of evidence, of fact, which only actual 
experiment can ever determine. 

But these phenomena are immensely important from every 

conceivable standpoint. I wish especially to draw attention 

to the most important result of studying these phenomena — 

this research — the possibility of thereby proving a future 

1 Planchette, by Epes Sargent, p. 17. 



General Considerations 327 

life. "If," says R. D. Owen, 1 "if it should prove that 
through the phenomena referred to we may reach some 
knowledge of our next phase of life, it will be impossible 
longer to deny the practical importance of studying them." 
Or, as Professor Hyslop so well said, 2 " If we should add to 
telepathy a process involving clairvoyance, premonition, and 
the existence of discarnate spirits, we shall have extended our 
knowledge of the cosmos far beyond all that physical science 
has done. And yet this is called 6 pitifully little ! ' " Indeed, 
what can there be of such vast moment to the human race as 
the settlement of these problems ? Flammarion says, 3 " If 
it " (psychical research) " helps us to know something of 
the human soul, and affords us scientific demonstration of its 
survival, it will give humanity a progress superior to any she 
has yet received by the gradual evolution of all the other 
sciences put together." For, indeed, as Myers so beautifully 
remarked, 4 " What other effort after knowledge is equally 
worth our pains? What possibility lies before mankind of 
equal magnitude with this possibility of demonstrating the 
existence of an unseen world, and man's communication there- 
with or existence therein ? " 

Finally, it must be remembered that, by the phenomena 
of psychical research, and by those only, can a future life 
of any sort ever be proved to exist, and so long as this 
proof is not forthcoming, the scientific world will continue 
its present attitude. It is hardly too much to say that in 
psychical research phenomena lies the weal or woe, the ulti- 
mate happy fate or disastrous destiny of the human race. 

There is, again, an objection that is raised to the study 
of psychical research phenomena that they induce certain 
morbid or abnormal conditions in the medium, if not in the 
sitter, and should not be studied in consequence. A typical 
example of this attitude is to be found in a work entitled, 
Spiritualism and Allied Causes and Conditions of Nervous 
Derangement, by Doctor Hammond. Another good ex- 

1 Footfalls, p. 509. 

2 Enigmas of Psychical Research, p. 395. 

3 The Unknown, p. vi. 

4 Science and a Future Life, p. 45. 



328 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

ample is a little book entitled the Philosophy of Spiritual- 
ism, by Dr. F. R. Marvin, which has a chapter on " The 
Pathology and Treatment of Mediomania," treating the 
whole thing as a diseased condition of the nervous system, that 
should be treated by the regular medical methods in vogue! 
As D. D. Lum said, 1 " The scientist would see in the young 
man, not a medium to be developed, but a patient requiring 
treatment." The same sort of statements are to be found 
in a few books of later date, though there is very little that 
has been said on this line of late, except, perhaps, the absurd 
statements contained in The Great Psychological Crime. 

Now, if we come to inquire a little more closely into the 
reasons for this attitude toward mediums, we find that it is 
because they (the scientists) have always assumed that any 
characteristics that may appear out of the ordinary, in any 
individual, are necessarily abnormal and signs of degener- 
acy ; and it never appears to have occurred to them to ask 
themselves the primary question, May not these conditions 
and states be merely different from the ordinary, or may 
they not be states illustrative of a higher plane in the evolu- 
tionary process — representing conditions which are to be 
the normal conditions in some life to come? May they not, 
in fact, be in some measure supernormal instead of abnor- 
mal, evolutionary instead of devolutionary ? This was the 
view that Myers adopted, as we know, and which he worked 
out so beautifully and at such length in his Human Person- 
ality (Vol. II., p. 85, etc.). The whole confusion arose from 
the fact that many scientists (Charcot, Janet, etc.) experi- 
mented on hysterical and otherwise abnormal individuals, 
and then they asserted that psychic phenomena were found 
in hysterical and abnormal persons ! The cart was obviously 
placed before the horse, though very many scientists seem 
unable to grasp that fact. It was not the psychic phenomena 
that induced the abnormal bodily condition, but the abnor- 
mal bodily condition merely accompanied the psychic phe- 
nomena, i. e., the two sets of facts were coincidental, but did 
not depend upon one another. If these scientists had experi- 
1 The Spiritual Delusion, p. 20. 



General Considerations 329 

mented on healthy persons, they would have found that psy- 
chic phenomena occurred in their presence in the same man- 
ner as in the cases where the medium was diseased or other- 
wise abnormal. I discussed this question at considerable 
length in my article in The Metaphysical Magazine (Janu- 
ary-March, 1903, pp. 184-94), and quoted a statement of 
Miss Goodrich-Freer's which I requote here : " In view of cer- 
tain statements that are current as to the physical conditions 
of crystal-gazing, I wish to say, as emphatically as possible, 
that in my own case these experiments are neither the cause 
nor the effect of any morbid condition. I can say positively, 
from frequent experience, that to attempt experiments when 
mind and body are not entirely at ease is absolute waste 
of time. The very conditions which might make crystal-gaz- 
ing a fatiguing and exhausting process, render it impossible. 
I can with equal certainty disclaim, for myself, the allegation 
that success in inducing hallucinations of this kind is due in 
any way to an etat maladif. The four years during which 
I have carried on experiments have been amongst the healthi- 
est in my life." 1 

Doctor Hodgson, in replying to certain criticisms in this 
line, also said, a propos of Mrs. Piper : " I emphasized the 
fact that Mrs. Piper's trances did not involve any personal 
suffering by quoting a statement from Mrs. Piper herself 
that she had never suffered any physical pain in connection 
with her trances, and that during the past two years, she 
had experienced better health than before since she was thir- 
teen years old." 2 

All this goes to show that, though psychical phenomena 
may accompany many abnormal states of the organism, they 
are not inseparable from such states, but may, in fact, occur 
through a perfectly normal organism. I cannot do better, 
in this connection, than quote the remarks of Doctor Max- 
well, where he says: 

" Those who have come under the refining influences of 
education, instruction, or rank, are the most sensitive, 

1 See also Phantasms of the Living, 2 vols. 

2 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XIV., p. 395. 



330 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

' touchy ; ' but this sensitiveness ought not to be interpreted 
as a sign of degeneracy. Certain contemporary savants con- 
sider every deviation from the normal state as a blemish! 
Such a way of thinking implies a veritable a priori judg- 
ment, a begging of the question, which is detrimental to the 
true development of scientific thought. The normal man is 
only a mean term ; there are individuals who are inferior to 
the mean, there are others who are superior to it. . . . The 
nervous system of the imaginary average man is but an 
abstraction ; in reality, the sensibility of the nervous system 
of the different human individuals varies immensely. A 
negative variation will bring beings who are less sensitive, 
less delicate than those of the average type; a variation in 
the positive sense will give individuals of a more sensitive 
and more delicate type. To consider either as abnormal is 
only grammatically true: the former is inf ra-normal, the 
latter supra-normal. The first have not reached the average 
level, and the second have passed it. . . . We might just as 
reasonably insist that Europeans are in degeneration, because 
they are more emotional and more sensitive to pain than cer- 
tain savage tribes. . . . The attitude of certain learned 
centres — it is with intention I do not say the most cultured 
— is, to me, similar to that of ecclesiastical authorities in 
the middle ages. . . . Their attitude prevents the most cul- 
tured, the most capable mediums from allowing their psychic 
faculties to become known. If these mediums speak of 
visions, a douche would be recommended! If they caused a 
table to move without contact, the words hysteria and fraud 
would be heard. Is it surprising they should hide their 
gifts? We ought to consider mediums as precious beings, 
as forerunners of the future type of our race. Why should 
we only see degeneracy round us? Why should we not see 
superior beings ahead of us, beacons, as it were, on the route 
we have to follow? " 1 Andrew Lang has some very humor- 
ous remarks to offer on this subject also: see his Dreams and 
Ghosts, and the Introduction to Thomas's Crystal Gazing, 
p. xlv, etc. 

1 Metapsychical Phenomena, pp. 61, 394-5. 



General Considerations 331 

I cannot now stop to consider the objections that have been 
raised to the study of spiritualism, from the religious stand- 
point. I have stated my own position in this question on p. 
326, and those individuals who desire proof that the study 
of spiritualism is not contrary to Biblical teachings I would 
refer to the first 181 pages of Robert Dale Owen's Debatable 
Land between This World and the Next, which is virtually 
a dedication to the clergy. Indeed, how any one who accepts 
the miraculous element in the Gospels 1 can reject the modern 
phenomena, or rather the theoretical possibility of the mod- 
ern phenomena, is beyond the comprehension of the present 
writer. As Florence Marryat pointed out, 2 " From the 
period when the Lord God walked in the Garden of Eden, 
and the angels came to Abraham's tent, and pulled Lot out 
of the doomed city ; when the witch of Endor raised up 
Samuel, and Balaam's ass spoke, and Ezekiel wrote that the 
hair of his head stood up because a s spirit ' passed before 
him, to the presence of Satan with Jesus in the desert, and 
the reappearance of Moses and Elias, the resurrection of 
Christ himself and his talking and eating with his disciples, 
and the final account of John being caught up to Heaven 
to receive the Revelations, all is spiritualism, and nothing 
else. ... If it be impossible that the spirits of the departed 
can communicate with men, the Bible must be simply a col- 
lection of fabulous statements ; if it be wrong to speak with 
spirits, all the men whose histories are therein related were 
sinners, and the Almighty helped them to sin. ..." A 
most rational account of the Old Testament miracles, ex- 
plained from the spiritualist's standpoint, will be found on 
pp. 119-43 of Hudson's Scientific Demonstration of a 
Future Life, and of the New Testament miracles in his Law 
of Psychic Phenomena, pp. 338-99. 

But it is not my intention to enter the disputed field of 
theological discussion in a book of this character, which is 
intended to be devoted to the scientific side of the question 
altogether, the examination of fact. Those of my readers 

1 V* The Miraculous Element in the Gospels, by Dr. A. B. Bruceo 

2 There Is No Death, p. 16. 



332 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

who are interested in the theoretical and religious side of the 
question may find many works in which it is discussed at 
great length. 

Philosophy is virtually useless when it comes to this ques- 
tion of the survival of the soul — of " life after death." 
Whether the soul continues to exist apart from the physical 
organism is not a question that can be settled by a priori 
speculation, but by facts alone. The question before us is 
not a philosophical question, but a scientific one. The posi- 
tion of the scientific world is simply this : is there or is there 
not any scientific evidence that thought and consciousness 
continue to exist apart from brain-functioning? They are 
not concerned with questions as to the nature of the soul, or 
whether " reincarnation " or " conditional immortality," or 
what not, is the most rational fate of the soul; their ques- 
tion is, has man a soul? And to those who at once reply 
" yes," they say, if so, show me evidence of the fact, for 
otherwise I have every reason to doubt that any such thing 
as a " soul " of a conscious sort exists. In this world, they 
will say, the only knowledge of any mental or spiritual life 
we know is invariably bound up with the nervous tissue, and, 
apart from the functioning of such nervous tissue, we have 
no knowledge of any mental or spiritual life existing. If it 
does exist, where is the evidence for that fact? and if such 
proof is not forthcoming, it is only natural to suppose that 
the average scientist should continue in his present lines of 
skepticism. If a future life is ever to be proved, therefore, 
the proof must be scientific evidence, and not argument and 
speculation. As Professor Hyslop remarked, " Philosophy 
is helpless and worthless for proving a future life." 

It is to the credit of psychical researchers that they have 
realized this fact, and attempted to meet science on its own 
ground, by producing the required facts in the shape of 
phenomena which, apparently at least, prove the existence 
of a soul of some sort, active and alive apart from the phys- 
ical organism. It must be pointed out that the earlier inves- 
tigators in this field fully realized the difficulties that must 
be encountered, and the importance of facts, as such, quite 



General Considerations 333 

apart from any theoretical deductions that were to be drawn 
from the facts. 1 Crook es and other men of his type merely 
recorded the phenomena, without attempting to account for 
them. Crookes especially stated (p. 4) that he had seen 
nothing to convince him of the spiritual theory, though he 
had seen many facts he could not explain by any of the 
known laws in nature. 

In any discussion on spiritualism, therefore, we must con- 
fine ourselves to the real question at issue, and not be led off 
into various side issues, which, in reality, have no real bear- 
ing on the case at all. The real question is simply this : are 
there or are there not certain phenomena which would seem 
to suggest that a soul of some sort continues to exist after 
the death of the physical body? This can be made a scien- 
tific problem, since we have made it one of evidence, of fact, 
and it can be discussed and settled as any other problem can. 
Whether certain material objects move or not, or whether 
they are conveyed through closed doors or not, is beside the 
case, and has nothing to do with the question at issue; 
and hence their proof or disproof can have no lasting 
influence upon spiritualism or psychical research inquiry. 
The real problems still remain open, unsolved. 

Professor Hyslop summed up the whole question in his 
Science and a Future Life (pp. 94-5), as follows: 

" With philosophic and scientific speculations on the na- 
ture of matter or spirit disqualified by the facts which show 
that consciousness appears to be a function of the organism, 
whatever the ' nature ' of matter or spirit, the only resource 
is to see whether there are phenomena that will render prob- 
able or prove that consciousness survives as a fact, not as a 
consequence of some speculative theory about the ' nature ' 
of things ; for the ' nature ' of things has to be determined 
scientifically by the facts which show what it actually does, 
not by what we can imagine to be possible. Can, therefore, 
any facts be shown that at least suggest the probability that 
we survive death? " 

That is the whole question in a nutshell. Spiritualism is 
1 F. Crookes's Researches in Spiritualism, pp. 4, 10, etc. 



334 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

a psychological and not a physical problem, or should be 
considered so. Even when genuine physical phenomena are 
observed, the interest, from the spiritualist's standpoint, is 
the amount of intelligence connected with the manifestations ; 
the manifestations themselves falling into altogether another 
category. They should be investigated, it is true, just as 
any unexplained facts should be investigated; but they are 
quite apart from the real problem of " spiritualism," and 
have no real influence on the main problems concerned. It is 
most important that this distinction should be kept clearly in 
mind. 

It is extraordinary that Professor Wallace takes the pre- 
cisely inverse view of this, in this question, considering the 
physical problems the important ones, and asserting that 
" the purely mental phenomena are generally of no use as 
evidence to non-spiritualists, except in those few cases where 
rigid tests can be applied; but they are so intimately con- 
nected with the physical series, and often so interwoven with 
them, that no one who has sufficient experience to satisfy him 
of the reality of the former, fails to see that the latter form 
part of the general system, and are dependent on the same 
agencies." * This, it seems to me, is placing the cart fairly 
before the horse. It is only fair to state, however, that this 
was written before the evidence in the case of Mrs. Piper had 
assumed its present proportions and character. 

I wish to say a few words on the subject of the " condi- 
tions " that are imposed upon the sitters at all spiritualistic 
meetings. It is hardly necessary to point out that the vast 
bulk of these so-called " conditions " are merely imposed by 
the medium in order to render possible the operation of cer- 
tain tricks and fraudulent manipulations which more exact 
scientific conditions would render impossible. If the medium 
finds that he is unable to produce certain phenomena at cer- 
tain times because he finds that the watch placed upon him 
is too strict, he asserts that the conditions are not favorable, 
and makes his sitters change places (allowing some sitter a 
little less vigilant to sit next to him), or in other ways ar- 
1 Miracles and Modern Spiritualism, p. 209. 



General Considerations 335 

ranges the conditions of the seance to suit himself. The 
sitters cannot do otherwise than accept these conditions, as 
no phenomena at all will occur unless they are fulfilled. 
There is no choice in the matter. 

It must be pointed out, on the other hand, that, if genuine 
phenomena ever occur at all, then it is not only probable, but 
certain that they occur in accordance with laws of their own, 
which laws the medium may be supposed to know more about 
than any one else, since the phenomena occur through him. 
Just as it would be absurd for any one knowing nothing 
of photography to insist that the photographer produce 
photographs without the use of the dark room and developer, 
just so is it absurd to lay down rules and laws in this work, 
about which we know nothing certain. " Conditions " of 
some kind are most certainly to be expected, and they must 
be granted, whether these " conditions " are physical posi- 
tions or altered mental states. The " conditions " asked or 
required must be granted, if we expect to receive any phe- 
nomena at all. 

It may be objected to this, however, that I thereby allow 
the medium opportunity to cheat his sitters, and therefore 
abandon the scientific attitude toward these phenomena. I 
reply that I have by no means done so. I admit that certain 
" conditions " are very likely required, and should be granted 
— up to the point when they cease to prohibit the practice 
of fraud. The moment the " conditions " requested are such 
that they render fraud possible, then they should cease to 
be granted, or, if granted, the phenomena that transpire at 
that seance ought to be considered as not produced under test 
conditions, and hence of no scientific value. The whole ques- 
tion is whether the imposed conditions are such as to render 
fraud possible or not. 

One other consideration. The fact that so much fraud 
has been discovered, in the history of spiritualism, does not 
imply that all the physical phenomena that have occurred in 
the history of the subject, since its initiation, have been 
fraudulent, but rather that there must, at the first, have been 
some genuine manifestations to copy. Andrew Lang has 



336 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

called attention to the extraordinary similarity and agree- 
ment between the various psychic phenomena that occur, in 
various parts of the globe, and in the same part at different 
periods of the world's history. This, in itself, is a most 
striking fact. Of course fraudulent mediums can learn 
tricks from one another, and it is not only probable but cer- 
tain that the vast majority of modern occult phenomena 
have been merely handed around in this manner from one 
fraudulent medium to another. But it is hardly to be sup- 
posed that savages, in various parts of the earth, should 
also exchange this information on the latest methods of pro- 
ducing certain manifestations ! And the question at once 
arises also, whom did the first mediums copy? There may 
be much fraud in modern spiritualism, in fact, I am disposed 
to believe that fully 98 per cent, of the phenomena, both 
mental and physical, are fraudulently produced, but a care- 
ful study of the evidence, contemporary and historic, has 
convinced me that there must have been some genuine phe- 
nomena at the commencement of this movement, in order that 
the first mediums may have copied them by fraudulent means, 
and that a certain percentage of the phenomena occurring 
to-day is genuine. As Mr. Lowell said, 1 " A counterfeit 
implies a genuine, and a shammer something to sham." 

I emphasize this the more strongly because of the attitude 
certain psychical researchers have assumed in this matter, 
they having a tendency to assert that all the observed phe- 
nomena must necessarily be fraudulent, because some are 
proved to be so. A number of phenomena of a certain class 
are proved to be fraudulently produced, and they conse- 
quently assert that all the recorded phenomena of that class 
must be fraudulently produced also! Now, although this 
method is a very tempting one (I, myself, have felt the 
temptation in the preparation of this volume, not to give 
certain historic cases their due value, because so much has 
been explained by fraud?) it seems to me that it is a very 
unscientific and unfair one to pursue. I entirely disagree 
with the method of attack by Mr. Podmore, on the Home 
1 Occult Japan, p. 89. 



General Considerations 337 

seances, conducted by Sir William Crookes, for example. It 
seems to me that Mr. Podmore has attacked the weak evi- 
dence, the tests that are more or less easy to explain as con- 
juring, and suggestive of trickery, and pointed out their 
defects; and then, when he came to the phenomena that 
could not be explained on his hypothesis, he calmly asserted 
that they were due to hallucination! Why were not the 
simpler phenomena due to hallucination also, if that is the 
case? It seems to me that Mr. Podmore has accepted just 
as much of the Home seances as he cared to accept, and 
asserted the rest did not occur at all, which is to me a very 
unscientific way of looking at the matter. If the phenom- 
ena were genuine, on the other hand, it may very readily 
be granted that the same laws and the same forces which 
were operative to produce the more startling effects were 
also operative in the production of the lesser. The differ- 
ence would be one of degree only. I have so much admira- 
tion for Mr. Podmore's general method of handling the sub- 
ject, however, that I refrain from further comment of an 
adverse character upon his work. We are all open to weak- 
nesses and imperfections in our judgment of certain matters. 
Mr. Podmore's weakness seems to me to be to over-generalize 
from a limited number of facts. 

After the above criticisms, I am glad to be able to quote 
a passage from Mr. Podmore's Modem Spiritualism (Vol. 
I., p. 250), with which I heartily agree. It is : 

" We may feel assured that, in one form or another, the 
belief in such marvels, as it has revived again and again 
in the past, will manifest itself again and again in the gen- 
erations to come; and history shows that those who sneer 
at such credulity without attempting to understand its causes 
are perhaps themselves not the least likely to fall victims, 
precisely because they do not understand." Therefore, our 
first duty is to understand as much as possible in this line of 
research, in order that we may not be led into believing any- 
thing which is untrue; that is not, in fact, what it appears 
to be. One of the most essential qualifications of any one 
undertaking the investigation of psychical research phe- 



338 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

nomena (besides being possessed of an open and impartial 
mind, and what Professor Sidgwick so well called " the 
higher common sense"), is that he should be thoroughly 
familiar with all the modes and methods of trickery that are 
in use, in order that he may detect the spurious, and appraise 
the genuine; and it is the object of this book to enable hira 
to do that, and is not by any means an attempt to divert him 
from the path of investigation, or to assert that spiritualism 
is false from start to finish, and that no genuine phenomena 
are to be found by the impartial searcher after truth. Such 
is by no means my belief. If I had to adhere to any creed 
now in existence, that creed would be spiritism, beyond a 
doubt. Even the author of The Revelations of a Spirit 
Medium, a man who, for twenty years, produced the phe- 
nomena that converted hundreds to the belief, and who knows 
the disgusting details of the frauds practised from A to Z, 
stated (p. 321) that he himself was "more spiritualist than 
anything else," and advised his readers to go on investi- 
gating, for, " you will find in the chaff that is so plentiful, 
some good grains." 

Rightly interpreted, modern spiritualism is nothing more 
than the belief that a conscious soul of some sort continues 
to exist after the death of the body, and that it is possible, 
by certain means, at certain times, to get into communication 
with that soul. The former of these two beliefs is held by 
every one who is not a materialist ; while the second is simply 
a question of evidence. It seems to be a most sane and rea- 
sonable creed. The sanest summing-up of this question that 
I have ever come across is to be found in a little pamphlet 
entitled Spiritualism: the Argument in Brief, by Rev. Aus- 
tin Phelps, and I cannot refrain from quoting this passage 
here. It runs: 

" But the case which spiritualism as a religious system 
presents to us concerns chiefly a residue of facts, after very 
abundant deductions from its claims as a whole. Take the 
crude mass of the phenomena alleged, and set aside a certain 
proportion, large or small, as you please, to the account of 
the rascality which the system somehow attracts to itself, as 



General Considerations 339 

the ship's bottom does barnacles. Strike off another portion, 
as probably due to the honest exaggeration of credulous or 
prejudiced observers. Cancel another section, as explicable 
by * electric ' laws, or by principles of the animal economy, 
and specially by laws of disease well known to science. Ig- 
nore, if you must, everything else that is purely physical, as 
likely to be one day explained by physical laws yet to be 
discovered. Eliminate something more for the incertitude of 
psychological research, when pressed beyond the facts of the 
general consciousness. After all these deductions, spiritual- 
ism is apparently right in claiming that a residuum of fact 
remains, which goes straight to the point of proving the 
presence and activity of extra-human intelligence. For one, 
I must concede this, at least, as a plausible hypothesis " 
(pp. £4-5). 



CHAPTER XIX 

RAPS 1 

The methods that are employed in fraudulently produc- 
ing raps have been described on pp. 77-83, and for any 
further detailed consideration of historical cases I refer my 
reader to Mr. Podmore's Modern Spiritualism, before men- 
tioned. In a volume of this character, I cannot even attempt 
to touch upon the evidence for rapping, as a genuine phe- 
nomenon (that the historical cases afford), but must content 
myself with quoting a few of the most remarkable cases on 
record (or, at least, what appear to me to be the most re- 
markable, for doubtless opinions differ as to the relative 
value of the respective cases), and stating my reasons for 
believing that such phenomena do sometimes occur, how- 
ever rare such genuine cases may be. I may begin by quot- 
ing one or two cases that appear to me to be typical, and as 
affording the best evidence that I have been able to find : and 
it must be admitted that the evidence is at least imposing and 
suggestive, if not absolutely convincing. 

" On one occasion," writes Professor Barrett, 2 " when no 
one else was in the room, and it was broad daylight as usual, 
I asked my young friend the medium to put her hands 
against the wall and see how far she could stretch her feet 
back from the wall without tumbling down. This she did, 

1 I should like to say a few words in answer to the objection that it 
would be undignified for spirits to waste their time rapping on tables, etc. 
(1) It is simply a question of fact — not speculation — whether they do 
or not. (2) " If Queen Victoria or George Washington wished to enter a 
room, in this world, it was not considered beneath their dignity to tap on 
the door " (Savage, Can Telepathy Explain f pp. 30-1). (3) It is highly 
probable — by analogy from the Piper case — that the spirit is unaware 
it is manifesting in raps. That may be merely the physical form in 
which the thoughts are automatically registered. 

2 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IV., p. 30. 

340 



Raps 341 

and, whilst in this constrained condition, with the muscles of 
the arms and legs all in tension, I asked for the knocks to 
come. Immediately a brisk pattering of raps followed my 
request. All the while the child remained quite motionless. 
My reason for making this experiment was to test the late 
Doctor Carpenter's muscular theory of the cause of the 
sounds. Had Doctor Carpenter been present, I feel quite 
sure he would have admitted that here, at any rate, that 
theory fell through." 

The next series of experiments are those of Sir William 
Crookes. They will be found described in full in his book, 
Researches in Spiritualism, to which I would refer the reader. 
I might summarize one series of experiments, perhaps, as 
follows. On a table was placed a tightly stretched mem- 
brane, forming a sort of drumhead. The lower side of this 
rested on the table, so that the apparatus really resembled a 
tambourine more than anything else. Now, without having 
the apparatus explained to her in any way, a lady was 
brought into the room, and requested to place her hands on 
the table on which the drumhead rested, so that no contact 
whatever was possible between the membrane and the hands 
of the medium. But, to make assurance doubly sure, Sir 
William placed his hands over those of the medium, in order 
to detect any conscious or unconscious movement on her 
part. (All this was in full light.) The account goes on: 
" Presently percussive noises were heard on the parchment, 
resembling the dropping of grains of sand on its surface. 
At each percussion a fragment of graphite which I had 
placed on the membrane was seen to be projected upward 
about l-50th of an inch. . . . Sometimes the sounds were 
as rapid as those from an induction coil, whilst at others they 
were more than a second apart " (p. 39). 

The description of the various kinds of raps noticed at 
different times is most interesting. On p. 86 we read : " The 
popular name of ' raps ' conveys a very erroneous impression 
of this class of phenomena. At different times, during my 
experiments, I have heard delicate ticks, as with the point of 
a pin, a cascade of sharp sounds as from an induction coil 



342 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

in full work, detonations in the air, sharp metallic taps, a 
cracking like that heard when a f rictional machine is at work, 
sounds like scratching, the twittering as of a bird," etc. 

Again, on p. 87, Sir William writes: 

" I have heard them (the raps) in a living tree, on a sheet 
of glass, on a stretched iron wire, on a stretched membrane, 
a tambourine, on the roof of a cab and on the floor of a 
theatre. Moreover, actual contact is not always necessary ; 
I have heard these sounds proceeding from the floor, walls, 
etc., when the medium's hands and feet were held, when she 
was standing on a chair, when she was suspended in a swing 
from the ceiling, when she was enclosed in a wire cage, and 
when she had fallen fainting on a sofa. I have heard them 
on a glass harmonicon, I have felt them on my own shoulder 
and under my own hands. I have heard them on a sheet of 
paper, held between the fingers by a piece of thread passed 
through one corner. With a full knowledge of the numerous 
theories which have been started, chiefly in America, to ex- 
plain these sounds, I have tested them in every way that I 
could devise, until there has been no escape from the convic- 
tion that they were true objective occurrences not produced 
by trickery or mechanical means." 

The next experiments I shall mention are those conducted 
by Professor Maxwell, quoting them from his Metapsychical 
Phenomena. No one has made a closer study of raps and 
telekinetic phenomena than the author of this work, and his 
experiments have all been conducted recently, thus disposing of 
one very forcible objection to the older series of experiments. 

I shall first quote some general observations of the author, 
passing on to accounts of actual phenomena witnessed by 
him. These seem to confirm the observations of Sir William 
Crookes in a very striking manner, agreeing with them, in 
many respects, in great detail. For this reason it would cer- 
tainly appear that the phenomena observed by these gentle- 
men were genuine ; otherwise the coincidence is most difficult 
to explain. 

" Raps may be given upon various articles, with or with- 
out contact, and even at a certain distance from the medium. 



Raps 343 

I have observed some that burst forth as far as nine feet 
away from the medium. ... I have heard them on cloth, 
on the medium's or sitter's garments, etc. I have heard them 
on pieces of paper placed on the seance-table, on books, on 
the walls, on tambourines, on small wooden articles, and par- 
ticularly on the planchette which was used for automatic 
writing. I have also observed very curious raps with a writ- 
ing medium, — when he wrote automatically, raps resounded 
with extreme rapidity at the end of the pencil. I can affirm 
that the pencil did not strike the table, for several times I 
very carefully put my hand on the opposite end of the pencil, 
and I was then able to verify that the sound was produced 
at the point of the pencil, the pencil remaining all the time, 
steadily and firmly, on the paper ; the raps resounded on the 
wood of the table, and not on the paper. In this case, of 
course, the medium held the pencil in his hand " (p. 79). . . . 
" I have also heard formidable raps with the two young 
girls (this reminds us of the Fox sisters), fourteen and fif- 
teen years of age, who were called the Agen mediums. I ob- 
served these mediums at their own home, and I also heard 
them twice at Bordeaux, when on each occasion they re- 
mained for nearly a month. The raps produced by them are 
interesting, but they do not seem to me to be demonstrative. 
. . . When the two girls were in bed, loud raps were heard 
near their feet, seemingly given on the wood of the bed. We 
were able to observe the apparent immobility of the children. 
Raps were also given on the blankets ; the raps appeared to 
be produced under our hands " (p. 76). I do not give this 
case as a proof of the genuine nature of the raps, but as 
showing the similar character of the raps, on this occa- 
sion, to those of the Fox sisters many years before. 
Such precise similarity of fraud seems to me to be improb- 
able, while, if the phenomena should be proved to exist, as 
actual facts in nature, this similarity would be highly in- 
teresting and significant. One of the most striking cases I 
have ever read, however, and one that converted me to a 
belief in the reality of the genuineness of these raps, is the 
following, which I again quote from Doctor Maxwell's Meta- 



344 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

psychical Phenomena, p. £78. After giving an account of a 
number of experiences with a psychic, by name M. Meurice 
(who is not, by the way, a professional medium, but a cul- 
tured gentleman, and friend of Doctor Maxwell for many 
years, and who takes, moreover, but slight interest in the 
phenomena occurring through him), the passage goes on: 
" Some of the messages given in this chapter were obtained 
while out walking with the medium. On such occasions, M. 
Meurice would put his hand on a walking-stick or on an um- 
brella ; he preferred the latter. ' The raps on the open 
umbrella are extremely curious,' writes Doctor X. ' We have 
heard raps on the woodwork and on the silk at one and the 
same time; it is easy to perceive that the shock actually 
occurs in the wood, that the molecules of the latter are set 
in motion. The same thing occurs with the silk; and here 
observation is even more interesting still ; each rap looks like 
a drop of some invisible liquid falling on the silk from a 
respectable height. The stretched silk of the umbrella is 
quickly and slightly but surely dented in; sometimes the 
force with which the raps are given is such as to shake the 
umbrella. Nothing is more absorbing than the observation 
of an apparent conversation — by means of the umbrella — 
between the medium's personifications. Raps, imitating 
a burst of laughter in response to the observer's remarks, 
resound on the silk like the rapid play of strong but tiny 
fingers. When raps on the umbrella are forthcoming, M. 
Meurice either holds the handle of the umbrella, or some 
one else does, whilst he simply touches the handle very lightly 
with his open palm. He never touches the silk.' " 

To my mind this is practically convincing. At least I can 
conceive no better evidence than this, recorded in the way it 
is, for phenomena of this kind, if we are to trust the observa- 
tions of others at all. I do not say that this experiment 
will convince all who read it; it would be surprising indeed 
if it did; but, personally, I can see no reasonable loophole 
by which a belief in this phenomenon is avoided in such an 
experiment as the foregoing. Confidence in the recorder, of 
course, is a very great factor, and though I have never met 



Raps 345 

either of the gentlemen whose records I quote, their style 
and manner of recording the phenomena they observed, 
causes me to have implicit confidence in their record, and to 
feel that, if I had been there, I should have felt and believed 
exactly as they did. That, after all, is the great test. 

On p. 291, Doctor Maxwell states that he has heard raps 
occur simultaneously on the chair, the floor, and on a table 
standing " a foot away " from the medium. And on pp. 
309-10 is reported the following most interesting experiment : 

" Then I tried an experiment. ... I bade M. Meurice 
sit in an armchair and lie perfectly still. I placed his arm 
at about one foot from the table and told him to fa/ncy he 
lifted his arm and struck the table, without, of course, mak- 
ing the slightest movement. 

" We obtained some excellent raps in this way. This is a 
fine experiment, for it shows clearly the production of raps 
by the will — the direct, conscious, and personal will. 

" We tried three series of experiments : six raps in each 
series were willed; we received four raps in each, that is to 
say, 66 per cent, of success. The raps were loud, one was 
double. The medium nearly fainted after this experiment, 
but came round quickly, though he has not been well since. 

"His sensations were: (1) absence of sensation in the 
arm with which we were experimenting; (2) a kind of breeze 
issuing from his shoulder. After willing the raps, he was 
never sure of success, he did not feel the wood had been 
touched. Sensibility appeared to be exteriorized." 

A very interesting case has recently been reported in The 
Annals of Psychical Science (September, 1905), by M. Hjal- 
mar Wijk, under the title: " Karin: A Study of Spontane- 
ous Rappings." The phenomena appear to be very well 
substantiated in many ways, but here we read that: 

" The various attempts made by Karin to influence the 
phenomenon by her will seem to show that such influence, 
when it took place, never could be exercised directly, but only 
by way of a subconscious mental state that lay beyond the 
control of her will " (p. 155). 

This is doubtless the usual method of control, in such cases. 



346 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

The conscious mind seems to have direct control over the 
phenomena only in the rarest cases. The directive mind is 
the subconscious, and I venture to suggest that the analogy 
between these phenomena and those of experimental thought- 
transference is close. It is certainly suggestive. M. Wijk 
has suggested a most ingenious method of bringing these 
phenomena under control, which I cannot refrain from quot- 
ing now. Realizing that the phenomena are practically al- 
ways under the influence of the subconscious mind, and hence 
removed from our direct control, in most cases, he goes on: 

" The phenomena presented by mediums are, in general, 
like the rapping in this case, the expression of an intelli- 
gence that one may generally assume as having its root in 
the medium's secondary consciousness. Should we not, by 
means of hypnosis, be able to get at this secondary con- 
sciousness through suggestion ; transform it as we please, 
and in that way subordinate the physical phenomena con- 
nected with it to our will — produce them, stop them, or 
modify them at pleasure? " (p. 160). 

These quotations will doubtless be sufficient to show the 
reader that raps do occasionally occur, under conditions that 
render it practically impossible to account for them on any 
theory of fraud. At least, the cases are strong and numer- 
ous enough, it seems to me, to form a prima facie case for 
investigation, which should accordingly be undertaken by a 
body of men especially fitted for the task. It need scarcely 
be pointed out that, if genuine raps do occur, it is a most 
important fact for science, and the question should be defi- 
nitely settled, if possible, one way or the other. Yet, strange 
to say, the question of raps has been all but entirely over- 
looked by all investigators in this field, even the S. P. R. hav- 
ing ignored their study. Well may Mr. Bennett exclaim, 
" Is there, through the whole series of the Proceedings and 
Journals, the record of one single attempt to solve the prob- 
lem of the ' rap,' or even to settle the question whether the 
rap is an abnormal fact or not ? " 1 

The Society would doubtless reply to this that the silence 
1 Twenty Years of Psychical Research, p. 48. 



Raps 347 

has been an enforced one, due to a scarcity of phenomena, 
rather than to any unwillingness to investigate the phenom- 
ena should they occur; and that is doubtless very largely 
true. Still, one feels that this question of raps has not re- 
ceived the attention it deserves, as it is a most interesting 
and a most important question to settle one way or the 
other. 

Before closing this chapter on raps, there are one or two 
additional facts I should like to bring forward, as tending 
to show that genuine raps do sometimes occur, however un- 
controlled and sporadic these phenomena may be. The in- 
dications are two in number, and I shall discuss them sepa- 
rately. They are: (1) The distinct peculiarity of the 
sound, which could not, apparently, be produced by any 
fraudulent means; and (2) the intelligence displayed by the 
raps, — they frequently displaying a knowledge of facts 
unknown to the sitters, or a peculiarity of their own, which 
renders it highly improbable, if not quite impossible, that 
they were produced, consciously or unconsciously, by the 
medium or sitters themselves. Let me quote one or two cases 
by way of illustration. 

(1) Cases illustrating a distinct peculiarity of sound. 

The first cases of this character I quote from Jacolliot's 
Occult Science in India, p. 231. The author is describing a 
seance held with a Hindu fakir, this taking place on the 
veranda of M. Jacolliot's own house. He goes on : 

" The fakir was already in position, with both hands ex- 
tended toward an immense bronze vase full of water. Within 
five minutes the vase commenced to rock to and fro on its 
base, and approach the fakir gently and with a regular 
motion. As the distance diminished, metallic sounds es- 
caped from it, as if some one had struck it with a steel rod. 
At certain times the blows were so numerous and quick that 
they produced a sound similar to that made by a hail-storm 
upon a metal roof. 

" I asked Covindasamy if I could give directions, and he 
consented without hesitation. The vase, which was still 
under the performer's influence, advanced, receded, or stood 



348 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

still, according to my request. At one time, at my command, 
the blows changed into that of a continuous roll, like that 
of a drum ; at another, on the contrary, they succeeded each 
other with the slowness and regularity of the ticking of a 
clock. I asked to have the blows struck every ten seconds, 
and I compared them with the progress of the second-hand 
upon the face of my watch. Then loud, sharp strokes were 
heard, for a minute and two-thirds " (p. 2S1). 

Again, on pp. 246-7, we read the following most interest- 
ing account: 

" ' The Pitris have departed,' said the Hindu, ' because 
their means of terrestrial communication was broken. 
Listen ! They are coming back again ! ' 

" As he uttered these words, he imposed his hands above 
one of those immense copper platters inlaid with silver, such 
as are used by wealthy natives for dice playing, and almost 
immediately there ensued such a rapid and violent succession 
of blows or knocks that it might have been taken for a hail- 
shower upon a metal roof, and I thought I saw (the reader 
will observe that I do not express myself positively in this 
respect) a succession of phosphorescent lights (plain enough 
to be visible in broad daylight) pass to and fro across the 
platter in every direction. This phenomenon ceased or was 
repeated at the fakir's pleasure." 

The most convincing case that is given is, perhaps, the 
following, however, for the reason that the raps occurred in 
the absence of the fakir, when he had predicted they would 
occur. At the seance it had been stated that raps would 
occur in M. Jacolliot's own room, at a certain hour, he being 
alone at the time. Accordingly: 

" As soon as it was dark, I examined all the different 
rooms in the apartment, in the most careful manner, and 
made sure that nobody was concealed in them. I then raised 
the drawbridge, and thus cut off all communication from 
the outside. 

" At the hour named I thought I heard two blows struck 
against the wall of my room. I walked toward the spot 
from which the sound seemed to come, when my steps were 



Raps 349 

suddenly arrested by a sharp blow, which appeared to be 
produced from the glass shade that protected the hanging- 
lamp against gnats and night-butterflies. A few more 
sounds were heard at unequal intervals in the cedar rafters 
of the ceiling, and that was all. I walked toward the end of 
the terrace. It was one of those silvery nights, unknown in 
our more foggy lands. The vast flood of the sacred river 
rolled silently along at the foot of the sleeping city; upon 
one of those steps the outlines of a human form were dimly 
profiled. It was the fakir of Trivanderam, praying for the 
repose of his dead " (p. 239). 

Now, one most interesting fact in connection with the 
above description is this. This same peculiar " metallic 
sound," produced through the agency of a Hindu fakir, 
is also mentioned by another writer who visited India at an- 
other time. The writer in this case is, too, a professional 
conjurer, " Baron Hartwig Seeman," an observer that cer- 
tainly cannot be accused of lack of acuteness, or inability to 
detect fraud, should such have existed. Yet, in ignorance 
of the observations quoted above, 1 he wrote : " Convinsamy 
had in the meantime risen, and stretched out his hands 
toward the fountain, the sprays of which were diminishing. 
Gradually the fakir stepped nearer, and the water ceased to 
fall, but in the basin a metallic sound could be heard, similar 
to the echo after striking a bar of metal. These sounds 
gradually increased and became so numerous and rapid that 
they resembled a shower of hail falling on a zinc roof." 2 

(2) I now pass to a brief consideration of the second 
characteristic of genuine raps, viz., their " personality," 
their apparent knowledge, and individuality. I cannot stop 
to quote cases of information given to the sitters by means of 

1 It would have been impossible for Seeman to have read Jacolliot's 
account, as that was not published until 1884, and Seeman's trip was 
made in 1872. Nor, on the contrary, would it have been possible 
for Jacolliot to have seen Seeman's account, for the reason that, al- 
though the latter was written in 1872, it was not published until 1891, 
so that the two accounts are perfectly independent, and entirely corrobo- 
rate one another. 

2 Around the World with a Magician and a Juggler, p. 54. Compare also 
the account of Professor Crookes's experiments. 



350 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

raps, since these may be found in great abundance through- 
out spiritualistic literature. It need only be said here that 
much information has repeatedly been given to the sitters 
(by means of raps) that was not in the conscious mind of 
any person present, and this, not only in the presence of 
professional mediums, where fraud is always to be suspected, 
but in the case of private mediums, and even in the family 
home circle. I refer my reader to the remarks in the chap- 
ters on " Table-turning," and on " Trance," etc., for a 
further consideration of this aspect of the problem; and, 
for the present, I pass on to consider certain peculiarities 
in the raps, which would seem to indicate that they are gov- 
erned by an intelligence of some sort, and are not produced 
by voluntary fraud. 

Thus, Doctor Maxwell writes : 1 

" The sound of the usual rap, on a table, reminds you of 
the tonality of an electric spark, while, of course, there are 
many variations. In the first place, we must note that the 
tonality of raps differs according to the object upon which 
they resound. It is easy to recognize by the sound if the 
raps are given on wood, paper, or cloth. . . . Their rhythm 
is as varied as their tonality. . . . One of the most curious 
facts revealed by the observation of raps is their relation 
with what I call their personification. Each personified in- 
dividuality manifests its presence by special raps. In a 
series of experiments that have now lasted for more than two 
years, I have had frequent opportunity of studying raps 
personifying diverse entities. . . . Sometimes the raps imi- 
tate a burst of laughter ; this coincides with either an amus- 
ing story related by one of the sitters, or with some mild 
teasing. . . . Not only do the raps reveal themselves as the 
productions of intelligent action, they also manifest intelli- 
gence in response to any particular rhythm or code which 
might be suggested." 

Professor Barrett reported a very similar case in Proceed- 
ings S. P. R., Vol. IV., pp. 34-5: 

" Curious ticking sounds again occurred ; these soon de- 
1 Metapsychical Phenomena, pp. 81-3. 



Raps 351 

veloped into louder raps. . . . There was always a remark- 
able intelligence and often a jocosity about the sounds, and 
when a tune was played on the piano the raps kept time to it." 

But the most remarkable thing about these raps remains 
to be considered. Not only do the raps indicate that they 
are governed by some intelligence, but the raps themselves 
are distinct and personal in character, just as handwriting 
or the touch of varied individuals on a typewriter or on an 
electric keyboard, is different. Each individuality has his 
own particular hind of rap, and whenever that individuality 
manifests, that particular, recognizable rap is given. Thus, 
Doctor Maxwell states that an individuality calling itself 
" John " always manifests by short, sharp raps, " like the 
manipulation of the Morse telegraph ; " "a group of four 
individualities, who call themselves the ' fairies,' manifest 
their presence by raps resembling high, clear notes " (p. 81). 
" Another entity personifies a man for whom I had the deep- 
est affection; these raps are graver in character" (p. 82). 
" Light, precipitated raps, weak but abundant, are the sig- 
nals of certain personifications which we might call mar- joys, 
troublesome guests, whose unwelcome intervention spoils the 
experience" (op. cit.). 

These statements may be found confirmed in many of the 
older works on spiritualism and psychic subjects, one of the 
most remarkable cases being that given in The Great Am- 
herst Mystery (pp. 133-4). The author (who, by the way, 
supplies us with a copy of a sworn affidavit of the truth of 
his story) writes: 

" I wish to state, most emphatically, that I could tell the 
difference in the knocks made by each ghost (I retain the 
author's language) just as well as if they had spoken. The 
knocks made by Maggie were delicate and soft in sound, as 
if made by a woman's hand, while those made by Bob Nickle 
were loud and strong, denoting great strength and evidently 
large hands. When he knocked with those terrible sledge- 
hammer blows he certainly must have used a large rock or 
some other heavy object, for such loud knocks were not pro- 
duced by bare knuckles." 



352 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Finally, I may state that the reason why I believe in raps 
is that I, myself, have obtained them, no other person being 
present at the time. These rappings have now practically 
ceased, but for a period of four or five weeks, rappings would 
begin in my room about the hour of ten o'clock, and continue 
until I went to sleep, rather increasing in violence at the time 
I went to bed. The next morning these raps had ceased, 
and I would not hear one again until about ten or eleven the 
next night. I could get no intelligence from these raps, it 
is true, and, for that reason, I long hesitated to attribute 
them to anything but creaks in the house or in the furni- 
ture. They did not sound like creaks, but like loud or soft 
knocks upon woodwork, and as though made through thick 
cloth, the noise being muffled in the queer manner that would 
suggest. I was finally convinced that they were not merely 
creaks by the following experience. One night, when the raps 
were louder than usual, and were in fact keeping me awake, 
I got out of bed and determined to find their origin. After 
some search, I located them on my mantelpiece, about the 
centre, slightly to the left. There the raps were taking 
place, sure enough. I could feel the vibration in the wood, 
but could see nothing, though the lights were full on. I 
found the spot exactly, and it was a queer sensation to feel 
the raps coming under the very spot I was intently watching, 
my eyes only a few inches from the wood, and yet be unable 
to perceive anything! The raps, on this occasion, lasted a 
few minutes, then gradually grew fainter and died away. 
They did not return again that night. 

On other occasions, raps have sounded in various parts of 
the room, but it is hard to establish the fact that raps of 
this character are not merely creaks in the house or furni- 
ture, and I never paid much attention to them, after I found 
that no answer was to be obtained to spoken or mental ques- 
tions. They were very loud, on occasion, and, as before 
stated, frequently kept me awake for some time at night. 
They had a nasty habit of commencing just as I was drop- 
ping off to sleep, causing me to awake instantly, with a 
queer, unexplainable feeling of apprehension. This was, to 



Raps 353 

me, one of the most positive evidences that the raps were not 
normally produced — the effect each rap would have on my 
nervous sj^stem. This was not fear merely, for, in the first 
place, I never felt any feeling akin to fear when the raps 
were coming; and, in the second place, this feeling would 
frequently come just before the rap would be heard. These 
raps were distinctively objective, being heard by several per- 
sons besides myself, on various occasions. I can produce 
their corroborative testimony, if desired. 

On one occasion, I placed a package of papers fastened 
together with a rubber band, on the couch. Instantly, there 
was a loud quick snap, as though the rubber band had been 
lifted up and allowed to snap back again on to the papers. 

On another occasion I was sitting for planchette-writing. 
I can never obtain writing in this manner, though I have 
sat by the hour together in an endeavor to procure it. One 
evening, my eyes being too tired to permit me to work, I got 
out the planchette, about eleven o'clock, and, placing both 
hands on it, waited for results. I sat an hour, and nothing 
had come but a few vague scratches to which I attributed no 
significance. I sat another half -hour, — still no result. By 
this time it was growing late, and I was growing impatient. 
I, however, made up my mind that I would sit there until I 
obtained writing or until something happened if that had to 
be till daylight. It grew to be one o'clock, half -past one, 
two o'clock, — still no writing ! It was growing cold, and 
I was about to give up the experiment in disgust, and turn 
into bed, when there resounded on the planchette board itself 
a number of quick, faint raps, precisely the same kind of 
raps, I imagine, as those described on p. 343. For a few 
moments, and for a few moments only, it seemed to me that 
I could perfectly control these raps, causing them to stop 
and commence again just as I willed. The period of time 
that I possessed this apparent power was so short, however, 
that I may have been mistaken in this, the results being 
merely coincidences. At all events the raps came clear and 
distinct, for about a minute, and then suddenly ceased. I 



354 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

have never tried the experiment again, dreading that long 
wait, even in the cause of science! 

One other fact is worth notice, though it has nothing to 
do with raps, strictly speaking. During the time that the 
raps were loudest and most frequent I felt a distinct 'pres- 
ence in the room, or rather in the hallway. My flat is so 
arranged that one has to pass the kitchen door in order to 
reach the front sitting-room. The door leads off to the right, 
a bedroom leading off to the left. This presence I dis- 
tinctly felt, standing in the kitchen entrance — so strongly, 
at times, that I frequently hesitated a moment before walk- 
ing past the door. This feeling lasted about two weeks, 
while the raps were at their loudest, and then suddenly dis- 
appeared. It has not returned since. As I live alone, I 
cannot say that this was not purely subjective, since no one 
else experienced the sensation, except on one occasion. This 
was under conditions that rendered any suggestion from me 
out of the question, however, and is well worth recording. A 
married couple occupy the flat on the same floor as mine. 
I see very little of them, however, though I am on speaking 
terms, and had naturally said nothing to them of my ghostty 
visitors ; in fact, I do not think I had seen them at all since 
the raps commenced. 

One Sunday morning, I was sitting at my desk, working, 
with the hall door open (it being hot), and I getting a 

better " draught " in that manner. Mr. and Mrs. 

came out in the hall, he to go " down-town " on some 
business matter, and she to see him down the stairs. I 

said " good morning " to both, and, after Mr. had 

gone, Mrs. stepped just inside my door, to say a few 

words. As she did so, she suddenly turned sharp round to 
the right, and exclaimed, " Well, I thought some one was 
standing there ; I felt some one there as plainly as possible." 
This seemed to me a very interesting confirmation of my 
own feelings. The raps have now apparently ceased alto- 
gether, and I may as well say that I am very well pleased 
that they have ! 



Raps 355 

What is the cause of these rappings? Well, we do not 
know ! The scientific world does not as yet believe that they 
exist; and until it has been proved conclusively, and to the 
satisfaction of all, that such phenomena really do exist, 
doubtless but small progress will be made. Only when scien- 
tific men are assured that the phenomena really do occur 
will they undertake to examine them; and how they are to 
become convinced of their occurrence until they become demo- 
cratic enough to investigate them, is a problem yet to be 
solved ! The scientific world must be assured of the existence 
of the phenomena before it will condescend to investigate 
them. The only way to prove their occurrence is to inves- 
tigate them, and the scientific man will not investigate them 
until it is proved to him that they exist! How this endless 
chain is ever to be broken remains to be seen. 

Meanwhile, some patient and fearless investigators have 
blazed the path into the undiscovered country, and have re- 
turned, telling us of the road we must follow, and the pit- 
falls we are to avoid, if we are to reach the same point in 
our journey safely. Almost the only scientific man who has 
made a careful study of raps (with the exception, perhaps, 
of Sir William Crookes) is Doctor Maxwell, and it is to his 
book that I must accordingly turn for what information we 
may hope to find, bearing upon this important subject. His 
instructions to experimenters are as follows: 

" Contact of the hands is unnecessary when sitting for 
raps. I have procured them quite easily with several me- 
diums, without such contact. 

" When we have succeeded in obtaining raps with contact, 
one of the best ways of obtaining them without contact is to 
let the hands rest for a certain time on the table, then to raise 
them very slowly, palms downward, and the fingers loosely 
extended. Under such conditions, it seldom happens that 
raps do not continue to be heard for at least a short time." 
(This reminds us strongly of table-turning experiments, in 
which the table continues to move, occasionally, after the 
sitters' hands have all been removed.) 

Doctor Maxwell suggests that the causal agency at work 



356 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

in all these phenomena is a sort of nervous or vital force, 
probably closely akin to Crookes's psychic force only, ap- 
parently, more closely allied to the living or organic world 
than Crookes conceived the psychic force to be. But I shall 
let Doctor Maxwell state his theory in his own words. After 
finding that " all muscular movements, however slight, are 
generally followed by a rap " (p. 83), and that the intensity 
of these raps does not vary either in proportion to the move- 
ment made, or to the distance of the rap from the medium, 
he goes on: 

" I have noticed that, with mediums of decided power, it 
was unnecessary to adopt any special method for the produc- 
tion of raps, as they were forthcoming as soon as any sort 
of movement with hands or feet was executed. With strong 
mediums, it often suffices to move the hand above the table, 
to shake the fingers, to gently press the foot upon the 
ground, in order to determine the production of a rap. . . . 
It seems as though the execution of a movement acted in the 
nature of a determining cause: the accumulated energy then 
receives a sort of stimulus, the equilibrium is disturbed by 
the addition of the excess energy unemployed in the move- 
ment, and a kind of explosive discharge of neuric force oc- 
curs, causing the phenomenon of raps. This is, however, 
only a working hypothesis. ... I think there is a close con- 
nection between psychical phenomena and the nervous system. 
What I have just said about the production of raps by the 
simple contraction of a muscle under a voluntary nervous 
influx is one of the reasons upon which I base my hypothesis. 

" There are others. I have often questioned mediums 
about their sensations when the raps were being produced. 
They all acknowledged a feeling of fatigue, of depletion, 
after a good seance. This feeling is perceptible even to 
observers themselves" (pp. 84-7 ). 1 

1 Doctor Maxwell has elaborated a very ingenious " physio-physiolog- 
ical " theory to account for raps and other physical phenomena, which it 
would take too long to detail here. See his book, pp. 166-8, 384-5, etc. 
He conceives that the rap might be considered as " equivalent to 
the noise of a spark " in an electrical discharge. Feelings of cold, appre- 
hension, etc., are also recorded; and especially of a violent cramp in the 
stomach. This last is very interesting in view of the fact that the feeling 



Raps 357 

This statement receives additional confirmation because 
of certain phenomena that have been observed in the case 
of Mrs. Piper, many sitters also experiencing this feeling of 
depression after a sitting ; and the more successful the sitting 
has been, the greater is this subsequent depletion of the vital 
forces. In Doctor Hodgson's own case, the effects were 
most marked. Doctor Hodgson was, physically, a most pow- 
erful and an exceptionally robust man; but, so great was 
the vital drain, that he occasionally had to postpone a sit- 
ting, because he had not sufficiently recuperated from the 
effects of the last seance, and it was, in fact, chiefly on this 
account that seances were held on alternate days, instead of 
daily, as they were for years. It was not Mrs. Piper's health 
that was endangered, but Doctor Hodgson's ! When con- 
sidered in connection with the phenomena just quoted, and 
the statement constantly made relative to the depletion of 
vital forces in materializing seances, etc., I think that the 
above acts are of especial interest. 

is precisely paralleled in cases of possession, etc., in Oriental countries. The 
in Lowell's Occult Japan, p. 91, we read: " The priest averred that at the 
moment of possession he always felt a violent punch in his stomach." 
This confirmation seems to me to be very conclusive, since the sources of 
the two records are so widely separated. 



CHAPTER XX 



TELEKINESIS 



Though there are many ways in which objects may be 
moved by fraudulent means, it is very doubtful whether these 
methods would account for all the phenomena witnessed in 
sporadic cases, of the poltergeist type, e. g., or whether we 
have to search further for a cause. The most obvious 
methods by which objects are generally conveyed from one 
place to another is by carrying them there, and we must be 
well assured that this has not been possible before we give 
credence to any force unknown to science. When the objects 
are actually seen to move or to fall from space (apparently) 
we have several alternatives to choose from: the objects 
may have been picked up and thrown by the medium or by 
some other person present, consciously or unconsciously. Or 
the movement may have been effected by means of a fine 
thread or hair attached to the object, and pulled by the me- 
dium. Or the medium may have moved it by means of the 
telescopic rod, often spoken of before. Truesdell worked 
the thread trick to good effect; so did Slade, and so did 
Doctor Monck, and numbers of other mediums. The scien- 
tific presumption, of course, is all against the existence of 
any such phenomena, and a most suspicious fact, in this 
connection, is that they are (and apparently always must 
be) sporadic, and never under the control of the medium. 
Whenever it has been asserted that these phenomena were 
controllable, it has been found that there was some error in 
the experiment which vitiated the result. One of the latest 
and most instructive of such cases is that afforded by the 
investigation of " Cheiro's " instrument to measure psychic 
force. " Cheiro " stated on pp. 158-62 of his Language of 
the Hand that he had invented an instrument which would 

868 



Telekinesis 359 

register " cerebral vibrations," and that by merely willing, 
the person so trying could move the indicator-needle, and 
produce material evidence of the reality of thought ! An in- 
vestigation by two S. P. R. members, however, showed that 
the results were due to other, normal, causes. 1 

After all is said, however, I cannot feel that fraud can 
account for all the phenomena that have been observed in 
certain sporadic cases, or even in seances. Each person 
must form his or her own opinion on a subject of this char- 
acter, of course, and that will be influenced largely by the 
amount of evidence that has been examined by them — deal- 
ing directly and indirectly with the subject. After going 
through all the evidence I could readily lay my hands upon, 
the distinct impression I received was that certain phenom- 
ena of the class known as " telekinetic " do sometimes take 
place, and that there must be some force in the world as yet 
unknown, and exercising at least a push-and-pull action (for 
the evidence for the more complicated phenomena is de- 
cidedly weaker, when it ought to be stronger) upon impon- 
derable matter. To my mind, at least, it is by no means hard 
to conceive the existence of such a force, which, if it were 
governed by the same laws as all other physical forces, would 
certainly not run counter to anything science teaches to-day, 
and the question of its actual existence becomes only a mat- 
ter of experiment and proof. 

Dr. William A. Hammond proved, by a series of experi- 
ments, indeed, that certain electrical conditions of the body, 
e. g., would move objects without any contact on the part 
of the medium, merely by approximating the hand to that ob- 
ject. 2 But in this case, as in all others, we must set aside 
a priori considerations in discussing this question, which, 
after all, is merely one of evidence. The question is not 
whether some such force is rational or conceivable to us, 
but whether the facts in the case compel us to accept some 
such theory in order to explain them. 

1 Journal, Vol. VIII., pp. 249-50. 

2 Spiritualism and Allied Causes and Conditions of Nervous Derange- 
ment, p. 115, etc. 



360 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

And here again, the evidence will be valued very differ- 
ently by various persons reading the reports of the phenom- 
ena. But I cannot too strongly point out and insist upon 
the fact that, in considering the evidence for the super- 
normal, the mind is more convinced by a great mass of evi- 
dence than through any single case, no matter how perfect 
the conditions may appear in that instance. So that, in 
reading the cases I am about to cite, the reader must bear 
this fact in mind, and remember that if he wishes to obtain 
a real idea of the cumulative force of the evidence, he must 
wade through all that is obtainable and be prepared to feel 
that the single cases given in this or any other book are in- 
sufficient to induce belief, in and of themselves. 

The first case I quote from Doctor Maxwell's Metapsy- 
chical Phenomena, p. 323 : " The mantelpiece is covered with 
plush. On one corner there is a statuette in porcelain re- 
sembling the Thorn; the child is seated on a chair, and is 
pulling a thorn out of his foot; the statuette is five inches 
high. M. Meurice told me he was going to make this statu- 
ette move. I stood near him, with my hand on his back; I 
stooped down and looked fixedly and narrowly at the statu- 
ette during the whole operation. M. Meurice proceeded ex- 
actly as in the preceding experiments, and when his hands 
— joined together at the finger-tips — were at a distance of 
six inches from the statuette, the latter swayed, bent slowly 
forward, and fell over. I affirm most positively that there 
was no hair or thread or normal link of any kind whatsoever 
between the statuette and the medium's hands. I passed my 
hand all round the statuette, before the movement, during 
the movement, and after the movement; I thus verified by 
touch, what my eyes were witnessing." On the next page is 
recorded an experiment in which a piece of sealing-wax fol- 
lowed the fingers, in the same manner, and finally fell off on 
to the floor. 

Here, then, we have the record of certain phenomena which 
are not attributable to any known force or agency, but 
rather to some force as yet unrecognized by science. If this 
is a fact, it is a most important fact, and in itself answers 



Telekinesis 361 

the Cui Bono ? of the uninterested. It is true that this force 
is no proof of spiritism, as such ; but that does not matter in 
the least. The interpretation may be what you like, the ques- 
tion for science is: do the phenomena occur at all? They 
are, at all events, phenomena that are only met with in the 
investigation of psychical research problems, for without 
their investigation, this force, if such it be, could never be 
discovered. Neither Sir William Crookes nor any of the 
scientific men who investigated these phenomena have been 
inclined to attribute the power to spirit agency. The ques- 
tion for them was always: Do the phenomena occur? And 
the answer to this question they realized could only be settled 
by observation and experiment, and not by a priori negation 
of their possibility! 

The experiments of Sir William Crookes are so well known 
to all that it is not necessary for me to do more than refer 
to them here. They have been quoted so often before that 
they must be known, at least in outline, to all students of 
this subject. The experiments were most carefully conducted 
and seem to prove pretty conclusively that some force or 
power was at work, beyond the mere muscles of the medium. 
Doctor Maxwell has cited a number of very striking cases, in 
his Metapsychical Phenomena. I have quoted one of these 
above. Several remarkable instances will be found recorded 
in Jacolliot's Occult Science in India (pp. 232, 242, 248, 
etc.). A large collection of such cases occurring elsewhere 
than in a seance-room (which are always to be distrusted) 
will be found in Mr. Myers's two papers, " On Alleged Move- 
ments of Objects without Contact, Occurring Not in the Pres- 
ence of a Paid Medium." x 

These cases are very remarkable, and lead us naturally 
into a consideration of the alleged " poltergeist " cases, of 
which so many have been reported in the history of this 
subject. The most striking and remarkable case of this 
kind I know, is " The Great Amherst Mystery," which I 
have quoted elsewhere. It is one of the most thrilling narra- 
tives imaginable, though the author endeavored to keep 
1 Proceedings, Vol. VII., pp. 146-98, and pp. 383-94. 



362 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

strictly to the truth, which is evidenced by the " duly sworn " 
statement, made before an attorney, " that the book was 
truth, and contained nothing but the truth," as he, the 
author, believed it to be. Several accounts of poltergeist 
cases, in which bells were rung, furniture upset and thrown 
about, crockery broken, fires lighted, etc., by no apparent 
cause, will be found in Vols. I. and II. of the Journal 
S. P. R.y the results of the investigations of the Society's 
members. These are the new and well authenticated cases; 
numbers of others will be found recorded in Mrs. Crowe's 
Night Side of Nature, Lang's Dreams and Ghosts, etc. 

Mr. Podmore summarized the evidence for these cases in 
a very fine article in Proceedings, Vol. XII., pp. 45-1 15. 1 
In this paper, Mr. Podmore showed that a very large pro- 
portion of the phenomena were the result of trickery, and 
went on to argue that, this being the case, it was highly prob- 
able that they were all due to trickery in consequence! I 
must confess that, while I am heartily in sympathy with Mr. 
Podmore's general aims and methods in treating the ques- 
tion, his logic does not appeal to me in discussing some of 
these poltergeist cases. After a careful study of the evi- 
dence, the impression left upon the mind is that there is a 
certain residuum of genuine phenomena, mostly telekinetic 
in character, that have been imitated in certain cases and 
added to in certain other cases; but the residuum is there 
nevertheless. Of course it is impossible to argue the case 
unless the evidence is all before one, and has been carefully 
gone over, but, as stated, the general impression left on the 
mind (at least on my mind, for one must always speak for 
oneself in such matters) is that there was a certain amount 
of evidence for the supernormal, in these phenomena, though 
that evidence would not be convincing to any one per se. If 
telekinetic phenomena should be proved to exist, in short, 
these phenomena would weightily support that evidence ; but 
in themselves they are not conclusive, as proving the super- 
normal. The real evidence, therefore, must be obtained 

1 V. also his Modern Spiritualism, Vol. I., pp. 25-43: and his Studies in 
Psychical Research, pp. 134-62. 



Telekinesis 36 



from the more directly experimental cases, such as those 
previously quoted. 

In stating that there is a certain amount of evidence for 
telekinetic and other supernormal phenomena in these cases, 
I was not only governed by a consideration of the exactness 
of the observations made, since these were frequently very 
bad indeed, but by the actual character of the phenomena 
themselves. Just as, in considering the question of " raps," 
we found that there was a certain weight of evidence in 
favor of their genuine character, simply because of some 
peculiarity in the nature of the raps, that would be hard, if 
not impossible, to duplicate by fraudulent means ; so here, 
there are certain phenomena noticed which, if they actually 
occurred, as stated, would be quite impossible to explain by 
any process of trickery. One of the most common of these 
is the fact, often noted, that the objects seen in flight, do 
not (very often) move as if thrown, but with a slow, gliding 
movement. This has been frequently observed. Mr. Lang, 
in his criticism of Podmore's Studies, 1 pointed this out, and 
severely criticized Mr. Podmore's method of dealing with 
these cases. Mr. Podmore replied that he did not consider 
his theory (that these were hallucinatory in character) as 
satisfactory either, " but I prefer it, as regards the cases 
just quoted, to any other hitherto advanced." 2 The con- 
troversy between Messrs. Lang and Podmore still continues, 
but for the present I must leave this branch of the subject 
and consider several other characteristics of telekinetic and 
poltergeist phenomena which seem to show that they are, 
sometimes at least, genuine, and not merely the results of 
fraud alone. 

In the first place, there is (generally) the pathological 
condition of the medium. In nearly all these cases, we read 
that the medium was in some sense defective or morbid, either 
as to the physical or the mental side of his make-up. Still, 
this characteristic might not, after all, serve as proof 
of the genuine character of the phenomena, as it might rea- 

1 Proceedings, Vol. XIII., pp. 604-9. 

2 Proceedings, Vol. XIV., p. 136. 



364 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

sonably be urged that these characteristics, this abnormal 
bodily and mental condition, predisposed the medium to pro- 
duce the phenomena by fraudulent means, consciously or 
unconsciously, simply because of the morbid state of mind 
accompanying these conditions. These semi-hysterical states 
would thus argue, not in favor of the phenomena, but 
against them. Nevertheless, there are some cases which can- 
not very well be explained in this way. Take, e. g., the fol- 
lowing account of the medium's condition just before the oc- 
currence of a burst of phenomena in the Amherst Mystery 
(pp. 37-8). " After sitting on the edge of the bed for a mo- 
ment, and gazing about the room with a vacant stare, she 
started to her feet with a wild yell and said that she felt as 
if she was about to burst to pieces. . . . While the family 
stood looking at her, wondering what to do to relieve her, 
for her entire body had now swollen, and she was screaming 
with pain and grinding her teeth as if in an epileptic fit, a 
loud report, like one peal of thunder, without that terrible 
rumbling, was heard in the room. They all, except Esther, 
who was in bed, started instantly to their feet and stood 
motionless, literally paralyzed with surprise." 

It seems hard to believe that this state was feigned, or 
was the result of any fraud whatever. Take, again, the fol- 
lowing case, in which the distinctive factor is the peculiarity 
of the phenomena observed. The Rev. R. A. Temple, when 
visiting the Teed home (where the Amherst phenomena oc- 
curred), stated that he saw, among other things, " a bucket 
of cold water become agitated and, to all appearances, boil, 
when standing on the kitchen table" (p. 54). This is an 
almost unique occurrence. Not quite so, however, for I 
find the same phenomenon recorded on p. 235 of Jacolliot's 
Occult Science in India. We there read : " The fakir stood 
motionless (with his hands extended over a vase full of cold 
water). The water began to be gently agitated. It looked 
as though the surface was ruffled by a slight breeze. Placing 
my hands on the edge of the vase, I experienced a slight feel- 
ing of coolness, which apparently arose from the same cause. 
. . . Gradually the motion of the waves became more violent. 



Telekinesis 365 

They made their appearance in every direction, as though 
the water were in a state of intense ebullition under the in- 
fluence of a great heat. It soon rose higher than the fakir's 
hands, and several waves rose to a height of one or two feet 
from the surface. I asked Covindasamy to take his hands 
away. Upon their removal, the motion of the water gradu- 
ally abated, without ceasing altogether, as in the case of boil- 
ing water, from which the fire has been removed. On the 
other hand, whenever he placed his hands in the former 
position, the motion of the water was as great as ever." 
This corroborative testimony from two such widely sepa- 
rated sources as India and Nova Scotia seems to me to be 
most interesting and suggestive. 

Again, the character of certain sounds heard, would seem to 
indicate that some sort of hallucination, rather than actual 
sounds were heard, judging from the description. Thus: 
" A trumpet was heard in the house all day. The sound came 
from within the atmosphere — I can give no other descrip- 
tion of its effect on our sense of hearing." 1 This closely 
corresponds to the trumpet sounds frequently heard in the 
seances of W. S. Moses; for we find that, in these seances, 
very much the same phenomenon was observed. Says Mr. 
C. T. Speer, 2 "... We had a sound of which it is ex- 
tremely difficult to offer an adequate description. The best 
idea of it I can give is to ask the reader to imagine the soft 
tone of a clarionet, gradually increasing in intensity until it 
rivalled the sound of a trumpet, and then, by degrees, dimin- 
ishing to the original subdued note of the clarionet, until it 
eventually died away in a long-drawn-out melancholy wail." 

This account would certainly seem to suggest hallucina- 
tion. We know that these sounds are frequently hallucina- 
tory in character, as is evidenced by the phenomena of 
haunted houses. Frequent illustrative cases could be given. 
I content myself by quoting one, which has the advantage 
of being observed by a scientific witness. Miss X. writes : 3 

1 The Great Amherst Mystery, p. 123. 

2 Spirit Teachings, p. xv. 

3 Alleged Haunting of B House, p. 119. 



366 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

" This morning's phenomenon is the most incomprehensible 
I have yet known. I heard the banging sounds after we 
were in bed last night. Early this morning, about 5.30, I 
was awakened by them. They continued for nearly an 
hour. Then another sound began in the room. It might 
have been a very little kitten jumping and pouncing, or even 
a very large bird; there was a fluttering noise, too. It was 
close, exactly opposite the bed. Miss Moore woke up, and 
we heard it going on till nearly eight o'clock. . . ." This 
account would seem to indicate hallucination, at least in 
part. The theory advanced by the Hon. John Harris to 
account for the facts, in the face of the evidence, seems to 
me perfectly absurd. 1 

Finally, there is the evidence afforded by certain impres- 
sions and feelings of the medium, experienced when the phe- 
nomena are taking place. If the medium is honest, there is 
no reason to neglect these subjective impressions; in fact, 
they may prove to be of the very greatest use in ultimately 
solving these problems. I shall give a few typical examples 
of the sensations experienced by mediums, when phenomena 
are occurring, leaving out of account all such dubious state- 
ments as those made by professional mediums, etc. 

These sensations are noticed by all " dowsers," or, at least, 
a very large number of them. I have mentioned this phe- 
nomenon in the chapter on raps, and so shall not discuss it 
at any length here. Doctor Maxwell gives several instances 
in his book. " One of the most intelligent mediums I have 
come across describes it as a sensation of cramp in the epigas- 
tric region ; it seems to him, at times, as though he were on 
the verge of fainting" (p. 119). Then again the "cold 
breeze," so frequently spoken of in ghost stories, is very often 
experienced in the seance-room. In the Moses case* these 
breezes were very numerous. The feeling is recorded several 
times in Occult Science in India. Reichenbach mentions it in 
his Researches in Magnetism, etc., p. 59 (though his results 
could not, apparently, be duplicated by either the English 

1 Inferences from Haunted Houses and Haunted Men. By the Hon. John 
Harris, 



Telekinesis 367 

or American S. P. R.). 1 At all events, these phenomena, 
whether objective or subjective, indicate some abnormal 
bodily condition, and, because of that fact, point away from 
fraud, pure and simple, as an explanation for all the phe- 
nomena recorded at seances. If this is once admitted, then 
the study of the mental anl physical conditions of the me- 
dium at a seance becomes a scientific duty, for there is evi- 
dently something here to be investigated. If the scientific 
world had come forward boldly, years ago, as it should have, 
we might by now know something of the conditions then 
manifested, instead of remaining in our present state of ig- 
norance. 

And this brings me to a consideration of how the phe- 
nomena of telekinesis may conceivably be produced — grant- 
ing that the phenomena are ever genuine at all. To those 
who are convinced that such phenomena ever do occur in * 
genuine manner, their explanation becomes both interesting 
and scientifically important. Tentative theories as to the 
modus operandi involved are advanced in several books that 
have been published of late years. Let us for a moment 
consider these. 

Looked at from one point of view, indeed, there is noth- 
ing so very wonderful in telekinetic phenomena, after all. 
No actio in distans is necessitated or called for, and there is 
no law of the physical world that would be violated by its 
acceptance; it is only a question of whether it is a fact or 
not. It is quite conceivable, at least, that the nervous force 
which actuates the body might, under certain exceptional cir- 
cumstances, extend beyond the periphery of the bodily 
frame, and exert an influence over the external, material 
world. Indeed, as Doctor Maxwell pointed out, " it is not 
even necessary to suppose that the nervous force acts be- 
yond the limits of the body, if we admit that the experi- 
menters create around them a sort of ' magnetic field.' The 
nervous force would reach a maximum of potentiality in the 
experimenters or in the medium; the objects placed within 
the field would have a different potentiality; according to 
^ee Proceedings, Vol. I., pp. 230-7; American Proceedings, pp. 116-27. 



368 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the conditions, we would have phenomena of attraction or 
repulsion." Still, it is probable, as Sir Oliver Lodge pointed 
out, 1 that these phenomena, if proved to be realities, will 
require an extension of our views of biological, if not phys- 
ical law. " . . . It is only in the presence of a living being 
that these actions occur, and the power which enables such 
movements appears to be a modified or unusual display of 
vital power, directing energy in an unusual way along un- 
recognized channels, but otherwise affecting much the same 
kind of movement as can be caused by the action of ordinary 
limbs. Thus, instead of action at a distance in the physical 
sense, what I have observed may be said to be more like 
vitality at a distance, the action of a living organism ex- 
erted in unusual directions, and over a range greater than 
the ordinary." It is, in short, as Mr. Myers suggested, 2 
" A mere extension to a short distance from the sensitive's 
organism, of a small part of his ordinary muscular power." 

Still, the phenomenon may not be altogether so simple as 
might appear from these quotations; the phenomenon may 
prove to be far more complicated in character, and involve 
far more of the " unknown " in its explanation than we at 
present conceive. Let us consider, with Professor Flournoy, 
the possible nature of telekinetic action. In discussing this, 
he writes : 3 

" It may be conceived that, as the atom and the molecule 
are the centre of a more or less radiating influence of ex- 
tension, so the organized individual, isolated cell, or colony 
of cells, is originally in possession of a sphere of action, 
where it concentrates at times its efforts more especially on 
one point, and again on others ad libitum. Through repe- 
tition, habit, selection, heredity, and other principles loved 
by biologists, certain more constant lines of force would be 
differentiated in this homogeneous primordial sphere, and 
little by little could give birth to motor organs. For exam- 
ple : our four members of flesh and blood, sweeping the space 

1 Journal, Vol. VI., pp. 334-5. 

2 Human Personality, Vol. IT., p. 208. 

3 From India to the Planet Mars (not to be confounded with Gratacap's 
Certainty of a Future Life in Mars, a work of fiction), pp. 377-8. 



Telekinesis 369 

around us, would be but a more economic expedient invented 
by nature, a machine wrought in the course of better adapted 
evolution, to obtain at the least expense the same useful 
effects as this vague, primordial spherical power. Thus, 
supplanted or transformed, these powers would thereafter 
manifest themselves only very exceptionally, in certain states, 
or with abnormal individuals, as an atavic reapparition of 
a mode of acting long ago fallen into disuse, because it is 
really very imperfect and necessitates, without any advan- 
tage, an expenditure of vital energy far greater than the 
ordinary use of arms and limbs. Unless it is the cosmic 
power itself, the amoral and stupid ' demiurge,' the uncon- 
sciousness of M. de Hartman, which comes directly into play 
upon contact with a deranged nervous system, and realizes 
its disordered dreams without passing through the regular 
channels of muscular movements." 

In considering the difficult problem of the intelligence in- 
volved in these phenomena, i. e., its origin and nature, I 
quote the following passage from Doctor Maxwell's book, 
which will, I am sure, be found highly interesting and sug- 
gestive to my readers. Doctor Maxwell advances the follow- 
ing theory, which is certainly illuminating. Assuming, for 
the sake of argument, that telekinetic and other kindred phe- 
nomena do sometimes occur at seances, he suggests that the 
intelligence shown at such times is not that of some " spirit," 
but somehow a " compound of the elementary consciousness 
of the sitters." He then goes on : " This hypothesis does 
not appear to me to be demonstrated, but some of my experi- 
ments have made me think of its possibility, and I consider it 
ought to be submitted for examination. Things seem to 
happen as though the nervous influx of the sitters created 
a field of force around the experimenters, and more espe- 
cially the medium. Each experimenter would then act as 
a dynamogenic element, and would enter, for a variable part, 
into the production of the liberated energy. This energy 
would act beyond the apparent limits of the body, under con- 
ditions analogous to those governing its intercorporal action ; 
that is to say, it would remain, to a certain extent, in con- 



370 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

nection with the superior or inferior nervous centres, con- 
scious or unconscious. In this case, we could understand 
how the energy appears to depend, to a certain extent, upon 
the will of the sitters or the medium. We can even explain 
that it should appear to manifest an independent will, if its 
production were due to the activity of the nervous centres, 
the action of which is independent of ordinary consciousness. 
In that hypothesis, none of the sitters would recognize the 
trace of their normal personality in the evolution of the 
phenomena ; and this is what generally happens. Sometimes, 
however, the medium or one of the sitters has the feeling, 
more or less precise, that a phenomenon is about to take 
place. ... In this case, the nervous energy, emplo} T ed to 
realize the phenomenon, would be in connection with the con- 
scious nervous centres of the medium only, and she would 
appear to the sitters to be subjected to an extraneous per- 
sonal will. . . . Such appears to me to be the genesis of the 
personification, in the greater number of the cases observed 
by me. There are others, however, where this explanation is 
less satisfactory." 1 

I conclude this theoretical discussion of the subject by 
quoting a passage from a report of Sir Oliver Lodge. In 
discussing telekinetic phenomena, and the fact that fre- 
quently associated with the actual movement of an object, 
there is a " sympathetic " movement on the part of the 
medium, though this movement has really nothing to do with 
the actual movement, as can be proved by the senses of touch 
and sight, he goes on : 2 

" The fact, just recorded, that the medium's body under- 
goes sympathetic or corresponding movements or twitches 
is very instructive and interesting. Sometimes, when she 
(the medium) is going to push a distant object, she will make 
a little sudden push with her hand in this direction, and im- 
mediately afterward the object moves. Once this was done 
for my edification with constantly the same object, viz., a 
bureau in a corner of the room. . . . When six or seven feet 

1 Metapsychical Phenomena, pp. 166-7. 
'Journal, S. P. R., Vol. VI., p. 333. 



Telekinesis 371 

away the time-interval (between the push and the movement 
of the object) was something like two seconds. When the 
accordion is being played, the fingers of the medium are 
moving in a thoroughly appropriate manner, and the process 
reminds one of the twitching of a dog's legs when he is sup- 
posed to be dreaming that he is chasing a hare. It is as if 
Eusapia were dreaming that she was fingering the instru- 
ment, and dreaming it so vividly that the instrument was 
actually played. It is as if a dog dreamt of the chase with 
such energy that a distant hare were really captured and 
killed, as by a phantom dog; and, fanciful as for the mo- 
ment it may seem, and valueless as I must suppose such spec- 
ulations are, I am, I confess, at present more than half -dis- 
posed to look in some such direction for a clue to these 
effects. In an idealistic interpretation of nature it has by 
many philosophers been considered that thought is the real- 
ity, and that material substratum is but a consequence of 
thought. So, in a minor degree, it appears here ; it is as if, 
let us say, the dream of the entranced person were vivid 
enough to physically affect surrounding objects, and actually 
produce objective results; to cause not only real and per- 
manent movements of ordinary objects, but also temporary 
fresh aggregations of material particles into extraordinary 
objects; these aggregations being objective enough to be 
felt, heard, seen, and probably even photographed, while 
they last." 

With these profoundly interesting remarks, I close this 
chapter, since I have discussed these theories at greater 
length than is warranted in a book of this character. Those 
of my readers who are interested in following up the theoret- 
ical and speculative side of the question I would refer 
to F. W. H. Myers's Human Personality, Vol. II., pp. 
505-54. 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE MEDIUMSHIP OF D. D. HOME 

1. Miscellaneous Phenomena 

It has frequently been said that Home is the only profes- 
sional medium, in the whole history of spiritualism, who has 
not, at one time or another, been exposed in fraud. So far 
as it is known, though Home was under far more careful and 
prolonged scrutiny than any other medium, fraud was never 
detected at any of Home's seances, nor was it even suspected 
on any occasion. Even Mr. Podmore is bound to admit that 
there is no evidence whatever against this medium on this 
ground. 1 Home always sat in the circle, side by side with 
the other sitters, and never made use of a cabinet of any 
sort. He also had a great objection to darkness, and in- 
sisted upon as much light as possible on all occasions. In 
his Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism, Home exposed many 
of the tricks and frauds which were practised by mediums, 
and a perusal of that book will convince the reader either 
that Home craftily kept back a large number of the best 
secrets, or else that he was unfamiliar with them. The evi- 
dence would seem to point to the latter conclusion. Home 
stated that he did not believe in the passage of matter 
through matter, a phenomenon that was never noted in his 
presence, 2 — this reminding us of Stuart Cumberland's 
statement that he did not believe in thought-transference ! 3 
Home, on one occasion at least, offered to change his clothes 
just before the seance to show that he had no hidden mechan- 
ism in them. 4 This question of Home's character was very 

1 Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., p. 230. 

2 Lights and Shadows, p. 416. 

3 A Thought Reader's Thoughts, pp. 324-5. 

4 Dialectical Report, p. 47. 

372 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 373 

carefully considered by Mr. Myers, and he took great pains 
to ascertain in every way possible whether there was any evi- 
dence against Home that would throw doubt upon his me- 
diumship. He could find none, after a most thorough search. 
All the letters that were written to Home by various per- 
sonages, testifying to the genuine character of the phenom- 
ena, and quoted by him in his own books on the subject, were 
seen in the original by Mr. Myers, and found to be genuine 
beyond a doubt. So far as he was enabled to ascertain, there 
was not one iota of evidence against Home's character so 
far as the records indicated. 1 

On the other hand, the internal evidence of the books and 
narratives seems to afford good ground for supposing that 
the phenomena were genuine, one reason being the fact that 
the mediumistic power was developed in childhood, and, being 
misunderstood by the family, who thought the young medium 
was playing tricks, caused him to be turned out of the house, 
to seek his own living. It is hardly likely that, if Home had 
control over the phenomena, he would voluntarily have car- 
ried them to this extent. 

However, inasmuch as Home was a professional medium, 
we must not let these considerations interfere with our judg- 
ment of the phenomena, but must weigh the evidence pro 
and con, and judge each case on its own merit, treating the 
case precisely as though we were dealing with a medium who 
had been detected in fraud. The moral side of the question, 
in other words, must not be allowed to enter into the ques- 
tion at all, the evidence being judged solely on its face value. 
Bearing these facts in mind, therefore, we now turn to a 
brief consideration of the evidence itself. 

The experiments of Sir William Crookes with a spring 
balance are, probably, too well known to the majority of my 
readers to require any detailed consideration. A board, one 
end of which rested upon the table, the other end being sup- 
ported by a spring balance, was in position, and Home 
placed his hands on the board, at a point just over the table. 

1 Journal S. P. R., Vol. IV., pp. 101-36, 249-52 ; Vol. VI., pp. 176-9, 
302-4, 341-4. 



374 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

It was easy to calculate just how much pressure would be 
required at this point, in order to lower the spring balance 
to a certain extent, and it could be easily seen, also, whether 
Home was or was not exerting this amount of pressure with 
his fingers. The movements of the balance clearly showed 
that the pressure was far greater than Home could have 
exerted by any normal means, even if he had been allowed 
free play with his hands, and had not been watched, to see 
that he did not exert this pressure. These experiments will 
be found described in full in Crookes's Researches m Spir- 
itualism, pp. 34-42. I cannot attempt any detailed consid- 
eration of them here. They apparently demonstrate the 
existence of some force, which was enabled to move objects 
in some supernormal manner, as in the case of this board, 
or to produce raps {v. p. 356), or to levitate objects in the 
air, without support, as in the case of the wooden lath, which 
rose upright of its own accord, and stood upon the table. 1 
It is conceivable, of course, that some extension of this same 
force was that which produced the " levitations " of the me- 
dium (v. p. 386). 

I now turn to consider, briefly, the celebrated " accordion 
test." It is reported that Home took the accordion by one 
end — that furthest from the keys — and, holding it in this 
manner beneath the table, the accordion commenced playing 
on its own accord, the instrument being seen to open and 
close, and the keys to fall, exactly as if some unseen hand 
was fingering them. I have described several methods by 
which this accordion test might be accomplished by fraud, 
on p. 200, but I may say that a careful study of the 
evidence in the Home case has convinced me that the ac- 
cordion could not have been played by any such means in 
these seances. It must be remembered, in the first place, that 
these seances were held in the light, 2 and the keys were seen 
to be at the end farthest from the medium's hand. Doctor 
Savage describes a very similar experience of his own in 
which an accordion played in full light, in a similar manner, 3 

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. VI., p. 123. 

2 Researches, pp. 84-5. 

8 Psychics, Facts and Theories, p. 104. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 375 

and an incident of the same character is mentioned in Occult 
Science in India, p. 248. The difference in the conditions 
between the Crookes seances and those of Zollner, e. g., may 
be readily seen by any one reading the evidence in both cases. 
One or two quotations from Sir William Crookes's writings 
will make this clear. After describing the manner in which 
the accordion was held, etc., and the fact that music was ob- 
tained even when all eyes were observing the movements of 
the instrument, the account goes on: 

" But the sequel was still more surprising, for Mr. Home 
then removed his hand altogether from the accordion, . . . 
and placed it in the hand of the person next to him. The 
instrument then continued to play, no person touching it, 
and no hand being near it. . . . The accordion was now 
again taken without any visible touch from Mr. Home's 
hand, which he removed from it entirely and placed upon 
the table, where it was taken by the person next to him, and 
seen, as now were both his hands, by all present. I and two of 
the others present saw the accordion distinctly floating about 
inside the cage with no visible support. ... I grasped Mr. 
Home's arm, below the elbow, and gently slid my hand down 
until I touched the top of the accordion. He was not mov- 
ing a muscle. His other hand was on the table, visible to 
all, and his feet were under the feet of those next to him." * 
N/ Still more marvellous is the following account, which is the 
last I quote of the accordion tests. " The accordion was 
held by Mr. Home in the usual position under the table. 
Whilst it played Mrs. I. looked beneath and saw it play- 
ing. Mr. Home removed his hand altogether from it, and 
held both hands above the table. During this Mrs. I. said 
she saw a luminous hand playing the accordion. . . . 
The accordion, which had been left by Mr. Home under the 
table, now began to play and move about without any one 
touching it. It dropped on to my foot, then dragged itself 
away, playing all the time, and went to Mrs. I. It got on 
to her knees." 2 

1 Researches, pp. 13-14. 

2 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. VI., p. 118. 



376 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

i The tests conducted by Sir William Crookes were very 
carefully carried out. Not only was the instrument held 
by the end opposite the keys beneath the table, as in the 
Zollner sittings, but the sitters were frequently allowed to 
look beneath the table while the playing was in actual prog- 
ress, and see the instrument opening and closing of its own 
accord — all this in full light ! But, to render the proof 
still more assured, and at the same time to silence the voices 
of those who proclaimed that hallucination could account for 
the phenomena observed (which, on that hypothesis, did not 
actually occur at all), Mr. Crookes devised a wire cage which 
would enable the medium to place and hold the accordion in 
it, but would effectually prevent any contact or communi- 
cation with the instrument from without. 
, This cage was made circular in shape, and composed of 
laths of wood, fastened together at the top and bottom, and 
wire stretched around it in twenty-four rounds, each being 
less than an inch from its neighbor ; i. e. the openings in the 
cage were less than an inch apart. The height of this cage 
was such that it could just slip under the dining-table, — 
which was the one used for the experiment. If now the 
hand holding the accordion was placed in the cage, no con- 
tact with the instrument was possible except from the top. 
Mr. Crookes provided for this by pushing the cage under 
the table, so that only a small opening was left through 
which the medium's wrist was passed between the edge of 
the cage and the under edge of the table. The hand holding 
the accordion was thus inside, and cut off from any outside, 
communication whatever. The wires passing around the cage 
were now charged with electricity from a battery placed in 
the next room. 

Under these conditions the accordion was seen to open and 
close, and to play tunes of its own accord, Home's hands and 
feet being observed at the same time. On several occasions, 
indeed, the medium's hand was removed altogether, and the 
accordion was seen to be floating about inside the cage, open- 
ing and closing by itself, " no person touching it and no 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 377 

hand being near it." It is hard to see where fraudulent 
manipulation could be possible, in a case like this. 

Now, unless we are prepared to assert that Sir William 
Crookes and the other sitters present all deliberately falsified, 
in their narration of the events that took place at these 
seances, what hypothesis are we to adopt to account for such 
facts as the foregoing? I have read the criticisms of Mr. 
Evans 1 and Mr. Podmore, 2 and I can only say that, while 
I consider this summing up very fine indeed, it is not con- 
vincing to me, in that it seems to dwell too much on the sus- 
picious and the insignificant, and omits from consideration 
much of the strongest evidence, which seems to be hardly 
a fair way of treating the reports. I have discussed this 
at some length on p. 337, and omit further consideration of 
the question here. Nothing has ever been proved against 
Home, that much is certain ; and the internal evidence of 
the sittings (though it will doubtless be estimated vari- 
ously by various individuals) certainly seems to suggest that 
fraud alone would by no means account for all the phenomena 
witnessed at the seances. One can quite appreciate Sir Will- 
iam Crookes's attitude, when, writing in the Journal S. P. R., 
Vol. IX., p. 324, he said: 

" For nearly twenty-five years I have been attacked on 
account of these experiments, and I have not replied. All 
the attacks I have seen have been criticisms of one or two 
isolated experiments or statements I made, with an entire 
avoidance of the passages which would explain the former. 
They have been written more with the object of showing I 
was wrong and untrustworthy than with the object of get- 
ting at the real truth. . . . When the ' higher criticism ' ap- 
pears, in which all I have written on the subject is compared, 
collated, and reviewed, I have no anxiety as to the result." 

2. Levitation 

No phenomena that occurred in the presence of Home have 
attracted more universal attention than these of " levitation." 

1 Hours with the Ghosts, pp. 95-104. 

2 Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., pp. 143-6, 223-69. 



378 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

Incredible as it may seem that a human being should be lifted 
off the ground, and remain in that position for some time, 
in opposition to the law of gravity, it is, nevertheless, one 
of the best attested of all the phenomena occurring in Home's 
presence, the quality and the quantity of the evidence being 
both good and abundant. How famous the case is may be 
gauged from the fact that it is mentioned in Brewer's Dic- 
tionary of Miracles, p. 218. There is little that can be said 
about these cases of a critical nature, being mostly confined 
to a discussion of the theory of hallucination in this connec- 
tion. This I shall discuss on pp. 386-93. I must first of 
all, however, give a description of a few of these levitations, 
so that the reader may understand the nature of the prob- 
lem before him, and appreciate the difficulties of advancing 
any normal explanation as sufficient to account for the facts 
observed. 

The first account I quote is the famous report of the 
Master of Lindsay, referred to in other passages throughout 
this book, in connection with the Home phenomena. It is 
dated July 14, 1871, and reads as follows: 

" I was sitting with Mr. Home and Lord Adare, and a 
cousin of his. During the sitting, Mr. Home went into a 
trance, and in that state was carried out of the window in the 
room next to where we were, and was brought in at our 
window. The distance between the windows was about seven 
feet six inches, and there was not the slightest foothold be- 
tween them, nor was there more than a twelve-inch projec- 
tion to each window, which served as a ledge to put flowers 
on. 

" We heard the window in the next room lifted up, and 
almost immediately after we saw Home floating in the air 
outside our window. 

" The moon was shining into the room ; my back was to 
the light, and I saw the shadow on the wall of the window- 
sill, and Home's feet about six inches above it. He remained 
in this position for a few seconds, then raised the window and 
glided into the room, feet foremost, and sat down. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 379 

" Lord Adare then went into the next room to look at the 
window from which he had been carried. It was raised about 
eighteen inches, and he expressed his wonder how Mr. Home 
had been taken through so narrow an aperture. 

" Home said, still entranced, ' I will show you,' and then, 
with his back to the window, he leaned back, and was shot out 
of the aperture, head first, with the body rigid, and then 
returned quite quietly. 

" The window is about seventy feet from the ground. 1 I 
very much doubt whether any skilful tight-rope dancer would 
like to attempt a feat of this description, where the only 
means of crossing would be by a perilous leap, or being 
borne across in such a manner as I have described, placing 
the question of the light aside. 

" Lindsay." 

Lord Adare confirmed the accuracy of this account, and 
so did the third witness present, Captain Wynne, who wrote 
a letter to that effect to Home, after the attack by Car- 
penter, in which he asserted that the " single honest skeptic " 
present had not seen what the other two affirmed. This 
method — personal abuse of the witnesses of supernormal 
events — was very frequently resorted to (and still is, for 
that matter), and resulted, in this case, in merely strength- 
ening the evidence for the genuineness of the phenomena 
observed. Besides, there are many other witnesses for this 
phenomenon of levitation. Mr. Jones, in his evidence before 
the Dialectical Committee, stated : " I have seen Mr. Home's 
levitations. I saw him rise and float horizontally across the 
window. We all saw him clearly. He passed right across 
just as a person might float upon the water. At my request 
he was floated back again." 2 But the strongest evidence is, 
no doubt, that furnished by Sir William Crookes, who 
writes : 3 

" On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting 

1 Eighty-five feet, according to his statement before the Dialectical 
Commit ee, v. p. 214. 
3 Report, p. 212. 
3 Researches, p. 89. 



380 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

on it, rise several inches from the ground. On another occa- 
sion, to avoid the suspicion of this being in some way per- 
formed by herself, the lady knelt on the chair in such manner 
that its four feet were visible to us. It then rose about three 
inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and then 
slowly descended. . . . The most striking cases of levitation 
which I have witnessed have been with Mr. Home. On three 
separate occasions I have seen him raised completely from 
the floor of the room. Once sitting in an easy chair, once 
kneeling on his chair, and once standing up. On each occa- 
sion I had full opportunity of watching the occurrence as 
it was taking place." 

On another occasion Sir William wrote : " The best cases 
of Home's levitation I witnessed were in my own house. On 
one occasion he went to a clear part of the room, and, after 
standing quietly for a minute, told us he was rising. I saw 
him slowly rise up with a continuous gliding movement, and 
remain about six inches off the ground for several seconds, 
when he slowly descended. On this occasion no one moved 
from their places. On another occasion I was invited to come 
to him, when he rose eighteen inches off the ground, and I 
passed my hands under his feet, round him, and over his 
head when he was in the air. On several occasions, Home 
and the chair on which he was sitting at the table rose off 
the ground. This was generally done very deliberately, and 
Home sometimes then tucked up his feet on the seat of the 
chair and held up his hands in full view of all of us. On 
such occasions I have gone down and seen and felt all four 
legs were off the ground at the same time, Home's feet being 
on the chair. Less frequently the levitating power extended 
to those next to him. Once my wife was thus raised off the 
ground in her chair." * 

Now, what are we to do with such facts as these? They 
must either have occurred, as stated, or the narrators must 
have been under some sort of influence, hypnotic or what not, 
which induced in them the belief that the events occurred 
as stated. It is useless for us to simply deny that the facts 
1 Journal S. P. R., Vol. VI., p. 341-2. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 381 

took place, since that would be childish, no less than unscien- 
tific and prejudiced. Here is a great mass of evidence to be 
accounted for by some means, or we must admit that we 
cannot account for it at all. It is not that there are so few 
cases on record that they can be lightly overlooked or passed 
by as the results of a disordered imagination. Crookes men- 
tions several cases, quite as remarkable as those just given, 
which I refrain from quoting, from lack of space. The Rev. 
Minot Savage quotes a remarkable case that happened in 
his own presence in the case of an American medium. 1 Sev- 
eral cases of levitation will also be found recorded in Occult 
Science in India, pp. 237-8, 257 ; Around the World with a 
Magician and a Juggler, pp. 55-7; Baldwin's Secrets of 
Mahatma Land Explained, p. 34, and various other works 
on Eastern travel. As Mr. Lang pointed out, " This phe- 
nomenon is constantly reported in the Bible, in the Lives of 
the Saints, by the Bollandists, in the experiences of the early 
Irvingites, in witch trials, in Iamblichus, and in savage and 
European folk-lore." 2 Indeed, there is hardly a phenomenon 
that is so frequently recorded as is this phenomenon of levi- 
tation. And, " when we find savage biraarks in Australia, 
fakirs in India, saints in mediaeval Europe, a gentleman's 
butler in Ireland, boys in Somerset and Midlothian, a young 
warrior in Zululand, Miss Nancy Wesley at Epworth, in 
1716, and Mr. Daniel Home, in London, in 1856-70, all tri- 
umphing over the law of gravitation, all floating in the air, 
how are we to explain the uniformity of stories palpably 
ridiculous ? " 3 

It is folly to say that any process of trickery could be em- 
ployed that would produce the effects here described. If 
human testimony is ever to count for anything at all, these 
facts were established as thoroughly as any facts can well 
be. There is nothing in these phenomena that suggest or 
render possible any of the known processes by which this 
levitation is produced by fraud. There are many of these 

1 Psychics, Facts, and Theories, p. 103; Can Telepathy Explain? pp. 
59-60. 

2 Historical Mysteries, p. 177. ' 

3 Cock Lane and Common Sense, pp. 99-100. 



382 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

methods, some of the devices that are in use on the stage 
being extremely ingenious, and enabling the performer to 
pass a solid wooden or iron hoop (which may be examined) 
over and around the body of the " levitated " assistant, with- 
out coming in contact with any support or suggesting any 
such support as possibly existing; but the conditions under 
which this act of levitation is performed are very different 
from those under which Home was levitated, the differences 
being as great as possible. Nor are the usual methods of 
fraud possible either, since the light was always sufficient to 
allow of the medium being distinctly seen, and the sitter 
being allowed, frequently, to place his hands under and 
around the medium, as stated in Sir William Crookes's re- 
ports. If the seances were in the dark, it would be an easy 
matter to produce the illusion of levitation by fraudulent 
means alone, a method of doing so being described by Pro- 
fessor Hoffmann in The Secrets of Stage Conjuring, pp. 
226-8. The account is amusing, and deserves quoting, be- 
cause little is known to readers uninterested in the literature 
of sleight-of-hand. It is, in part, as follows: 

" A circle of persons is seated in a room in total darkness ; 
they are warned to expect something supernatural. They 
wait in this unpleasant expectation until they perforce be- 
come more or less nervous. They are kept in an attitude of 
fixed attention, which, long maintained, tends to merge, as 
the psychological student is well aware, into the hypnotic 
or morbidly impressionable state. Every creak of a chair, 
every sound, however minute, may be the outward and visible 
sign of a message from another world. Under such cir- 
cumstances, when the musical box spontaneously strikes up, 
6 Home, Sweet Home,' when the medium remarks, c I am leav- 
ing the floor ; don't notice me ; talk of something else ; ' and 
then a shadowy something, with an unmistakable perfume of 
leather, passes over the heads of the assembled group, the 
heel of a boot perhaps resting lightly on the head or 
shoulder in its passage ; who is so skeptical as to doubt that 
the medium has really been levitated in the manner sug- 
gested? Who so skeptical, indeed? Unless in truth he was 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 383 

aware, or was shrewd enough to suspect, that the medium, 
under cover of the darkness, had quietly taken off his boots, 
slipped them upon his hands, and gently moved them back- 
ward and forward over the heads cf the awe-stricken in- 
vestigators ? 

" The process of reasoning is obvious. Here are the 
medium's boots, floating in the air, on a level with our 
faces. Where a man's boots are, there his feet must be ; and 
if a man's feet are floating in the air, his whole body must 
be floating also. Ergo, we are henceforth prepared to make 
affidavit that the medium did, at such and such a time, actu- 
ally float about such and such a room in our presence." 

If the medium has written on the ceiling with a piece of 
chalk, as a proof that he was really " levitated," this was 
done by simply inserting a piece of chalk in the end of his 
telescopic rod, and writing on the ceiling with that. The 
differences between such a seance and the levitations ob- 
served in the presence of Home are too obvious to be pointed 
out in detail. 

If, then, we grant, on the strength of the existing evi- 
dence, and for the sake of argument, that there may be such 
a thing as genuine levitation ; that, at certain times and 
under certain circumstances, a human body may be levi- 
tated in the manner described, and the existing testimony 
would certainly seem to indicate that this is indeed the case, 
then it becomes the duty of the scientist to consider this 
question, and to propose some hypothesis which will explain 
the facts. Needless to say, such explanations have never 
been forthcoming, for the reason that the scientific world, 
as such, does not accept the facts; but, if these are once 
accepted, or considered possible, even, then their explana- 
tion becomes of the greatest importance, no less than of 
paramount interest. 

Let us see if this phenomenon of levitation can be con- 
ceived, as a scientific phenomenon. First, it must be remem- 
bered that weight, as such, is not an inherent property of 
matter, as many persons are in the habit of thinking, but 
varies according to place and environment. A piece of iron, 



384 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

e. g., will weigh more at the pole than it will at the equator, 
though the mass of the iron remains unchanged. This is 
due to the fact that the distance from the earth's centre to 
the mass of iron is less at the pole than at the equator, owing 
to the fact that the equatorial diameter is greater than the 
polar diameter. Consequently, the attractive force is less at 
the equator than at the poles. Evidently, then, weight is not 
an essential " property " of matter, but is attached to it in 
various degrees, according to conditions. When we have 
thoroughly grasped this, it becomes easier to conceive the 
possibility of matter becoming imponderable; all that is 
requisite is that sufficient force should be developed to coun- 
terbalance terrestrial attraction. 

" It has been observed 1 that bodies which rotate at their 
axes, like the earth, develop centrifugal force, the effect of 
which is to decrease their weight; therefore the weight of 
a body is scientifically said to be the result of the attraction 
of the earth's centre, minus the action exerted by centrifugal 
force. This force is nil at the poles and greatest at the 
equator. It has been calculated that if the earth turned 
seventeen times more rapidly than its present rate of rota- 
tion, i. e., in one hour and twenty-four minutes, the centrif- 
ugal force would be great enough to destroy gravitation, 
so that a body placed at the equator would cease to have 
weight. If we apply our knowledge of these mechanical 
facts to material molecules, which, as we know, are ani- 
mated by a double movement, of rotation and oscillation, it 
is possible to imagine, in the case of each molecule, that the 
movement of the rotation might become so rapid that the 
centrifugal force developed would annul the force of gravi- 
tation, and matter would then be imponderable." 

The view I myself should be inclined to favor is that some 
internal repulsive force is generated within the body that 
is levitated, which is, for the time being, sufficiently strong 
to counteract the force of gravitation. It is possible that 
this force is present and active at all times, in living bodies, 
only it is so slight that it is never noticed under normal con- 
* Evidence for a Future Life, p. 232. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 385 

ditions, and only becomes operative under a peculiar com- 
bination of circumstances, the causes of which we know 
nothing about as yet. The analogy of electrical experi- 
ments might be called into requisition ; the pith-ball experi- 
ment, e. g.y in which the ball is first attracted and then re- 
pelled by the excited amber. Again, just as telepathy may 
be operative at all times, but only merge into a conscious 
hallucination under some exceptional emotional stress, so 
may this force be always operative, but only develop to a 
powerful enough extent to be noticed in the physical world, 
when coinciding with other forces, or under a peculiar com- 
bination of circumstances the nature of which we as yet 
know nothing about. 

Thus it may be that levitation, though it be in opposition 
to " natural law," in one sense, yet may be in accordance 
with that law in another; inasmuch as it is within the scope 
of a larger law, which embraces both. Gravitation is the 
universal law that holds good in all ordinary events of life, 
and under all normal physical conditions; it is only when a 
peculiar combination of circumstances, laws, and forces con- 
centrate at one point, at the same moment, that the law of 
gravitation is overcome and temporarily transcended. TJie 
law of gravitation would be just as universal as ever, and 
would be in no wise set aside by any " supernatural " occur- 
rence ; it would be simply that, owing to this peculiar com- 
bination of forces, all acting at the same place, at the same 
time, the force of gravitation might be, for the time, over- 
come or transcended, so long as that combination of forces 
held together and existed. The event would thus still be 
enabled to take place, but it would not be in opposition to the 
law of gravitation; it might almost be said that it is in 
accordance with it. 

In somewhat the same way, I think it is quite possible to 
imagine various " miracles " taking place, events which ap- 
pear to be in direct opposition to the laws of nature. Under 
the usual circumstances and conditions, when the counter- 
acting laws and forces are scattered, so to speak, and acting 
separately instead of together, then the supposed law holds 



386 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

good; but when, owing to some chance circumstances, or 
the operation of the divine will (whichever we choose to be- 
lieve), these laws and forces are centred and concentrated 
upon one point, at the same instant, then they will cumula- 
tively overcome the force that counteracts them, and a 
" miracle " will have been accomplished. This I put forward 
by way of suggestion only. 

To one final reflection I would draw the reader's attention 
before leaving this theoretical portion of the discussion. It 
is that the power or force operative in the production of 
levitation may be only an extension of the same force which 
is frequently observed in the production of movements of 
bodies under somewhat the same combination of circum- 
stances which rendered levitation possible ; those which exist 
at the seance. It may be that the same nerve force which, in 
parakinetic phenomena, moves objects to a greater degree 
than can be accounted for by the movements of the muscles 
of the medium ; which, in telekinetic phenomena, moves ob- 
jects at a distance without contact at all; may, under some 
circumstances, levitate a body from the ground altogether, 
instead of merely dragging it along the floor or table, etc., 
as the case may be. That this is conceivable is certain, and 
that it has a certain amount of evidence in its support is 
established by the fact that the parakinetic phenomena are, 
apparently, easier to obtain than the telekinetic phenomena; 
and it is highly probable, to judge from the disparity in the 
amount of the evidence, that the telekinetic phenomena are 
more readily obtained than the phenomena of levitation. 
So much for the purely theoretical side of the question, and 
taking for granted, all this while, that the phenomena are 
genuine and real " phenomena," and not the result of some 
hallucination. 

Mr. Podmore and others, in discussing these occurrences, 
incline to the belief that they did not really occur, as stated, 
at all, but that they were the result of some species of hal- 
lucination ; that the ultimate explanation is to be found in 
the psychological rather than in the physical world; in Mr. 
Podmore's words : "... the witnesses were to some extent 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 387 

hallucinated. It is not necessary to suppose in such a case 
a ' pure ' hallucination, containing no elements derived from 
actual sensation, if, indeed, a ' pure ' hallucination, in this 
sense, ever occurs. It may be conjectured that Home prob- 
ably supplied certain material data, and guided the imagi- 
nation of the percipients to complete the picture which he 
suggested to them." 1 

Mr. Podmore returns to this suggestion, and defends his 
thesis at great length in his Modem Spiritualism, Vol. II., 
pp. 244-69, in the chapter, "Was There Hallucination?" 
His arguments are in many ways strong, though, to my 
mind, not convincing. Mr. Podmore's arguments receive a 
certain amount of support from the evidences of hallucina- 
tion in certain " poltergeist cases " (in the Amherst Mys- 
tery, e. g., voices — evidently of a hallucinatory character 
— are heard in various parts of the house, p. 135); from 
the fact that, in haunted houses, there are abundant evi- 
dences of hallucinations, apart from the figures observed, 
e. g., when the door apparently opens, to admit the appari- 
tion seen, 2 or where the investigator is apparently pushed 
by some unseen hand ; 3 in various spiritualistic seances, 
where the internal evidence points clearly to the fact that 
there has been hallucination at work, e. g., when the 
painter Tissot saw two figures, as well as the double of the 
medium, Eglinton, at a seance, 4 or when buzzing voices are 
heard and flashes of light, evidently subjective, were seen; 5 
in such cases as that reported by Prof. Harlow Gale, 6 or 
when only one out of nine persons saw the phenomenon, as at 
one of Home's seances ; 7 — all these and similar cases might 
be quoted as instances of hallucinations that have occurred 
at seances or under some such conditions as are present at a 
spiritualistic seance. An appeal might be made to the per- 

1 Studies in Psychical Research, p. 121* 

2 Lee, Examples of the Supernatural, p. 26. 

3 The Alleged Haunting of B House, p. 117. 

* Evidence for a Future Life, p. 239. 

6 Occult Science in India, pp. 257, 268. 

6 A Study in Spiritistic Hallucinations," Proceedings S, P. R., Vol. 
XV., pp. 65-89. 

7 Dialectical Report, p. 210. 



388 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

formances of the Hindu fakirs, whose feats are apparently 
dependent upon hypnotic influence or some form of suggested 
hallucinations, in order to accomplish the result. These anal- 
ogies, and the support that such cases lend to the theory 
advanced, have been pointed out and insisted upon by Mr. 
Podmore, in his Apparitions and Thought Transference, pp. 
377-80, as well as in his Modern Spiritualism, mentioned 
above. The theory was advanced and strongly defended by 
Professor Barrett, in an address before the British Associa- 
tion, in a paper read at the Glasgow meeting, September, 
1876. The vital parts of this paper, in so far as they relate 
to the aspect of the problem here under discussion, will be 
found reprinted in Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. I., pp. 238-44. 
So far we have been considering the evidence in favor of 
the hypothesis of hallucination, but there is much to be said 
against such a theory — so much, perhaps, as to render that 
hypothesis altogether untenable. We may agree with Mr. 
Lang 1 that the same psychological conditions produced 
alike the old and the new stories ; that explains nothing 
and merely pushes us back to the primary question : why do 
these psychological conditions arise? That question Mr. 
Lang is unable to answer, and it would appear from his later 
writings that Mr. Lang has entirely discarded the hallucina- 
tion theory, as, in his Historical Mysteries (pp. 185-7), he 
ridicules the theory unmercifully, and tears the whole con- 
struction down about the heads of its psychological archi- 
tects ! It seems impossible to conceive that a whole company 
of persons should be hypnotized or hallucinated at the same 
instant, and made to see things that did not really happen ; 
or to imagine that they went over to the medium's chair and 
placed their hands under the four legs, and around and 
about the medium, as Sir William Crookes asserted that he 
did, and that the other members of the circle merely imag- 
ined that he, the investigator, was doing so, whereas there 
was no basis of truth for any of these assertions! Various 
persons will, of course, sum up the value of the evidence 
differently, according to their outlook upon the world, and 
1 Cock Lane and Common Sense, p. 126. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 389 

these phenomena in particular ; but I myself cannot conceive 
such a phenomenon taking place. We have no evidence 
whatever for any similar conditions or cases in the records 
of collective hallucinations or haunted houses, nor have we 
any in the history of hypnotism. Imposed hypnotic hallu- 
cinations are far more restricted in their scope than these, 
and they cannot be imposed, moreover, until the subject has 
first been hypnotized, and then only the subject so hypno- 
tized sees the suggested hallucination, and not the surround- 
ing onlookers or spectators. There is no known psycho- 
logical parallel to which the advocates of the hallucination 
theory may appeal, except to the cases before mentioned, of 
the fakirs of India, where a crowd of spectators is appar- 
ently hallucinated, and see phenomena that do not in reality 
exist. If this evidence fails to give the necessary support, 
then the defenders of this theory will be indeed hard put to 
it to defend it. Let us, therefore, consider this question 
of Indian magic in relation to the theory of hallucination 
in some detail, and see how far the evidence supports the 
theory of hallucination in the case of D. D. Home. 

It would be a most interesting and pleasurable task to 
consider this question of Indian magic in detail, but my 
space forbids. Typical accounts of the phenomena observed 
will be found recorded in many works of Eastern travel, 
and they are dealt with more or less from the psychical re- 
searcher's standpoint in such books as Occult Science in 
India, Occult Japan, Howitt's History of the Supernatural 
(2 vols.), Psychic Notes (published in Calcutta, for a time), 
Baldwin's Secrets of Mahatma Land Explained, Around 
the World with a Magician and a Juggler, Kellar's Up and 
Down and Roundabout the World, etc. These last three 
books deal very largely with the fraudulent side of the ques- 
tion and contain some exposes of the methods employed by 
Indian conjurers. Although all these books (the last three) 
were written by professional conjurors, they all contain the 
statement that certain phenomena were witnessed which the 
authors could not explain, and, so far as they could see, 
were not due to any process of trickery. Mr. Kellar espe- 



390 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

cially stated this in an article published in The North Amer- 
ican Review, for January, 1893. Doctor Hodgson, with his 
wonderful acumen and ability to detect fraud and misstate- 
ment, severely criticized this article. His paper on " Indian 
Magic and the Testimony of Conjurers " 1 should be read 
by every one who is making a study of Eastern magic, or 
who is inclined to place too much faith in the testimony of 
conjurers that " such and such a phenomenon is not pro- 
duced by fraudulent means. " 

In this article Doctor Hodgson explains the mango tree 
trick, the colored sands trick, the snake charming trick, the 
basket trick, the bowl of water trick, the dry sand trick, and 
others which are the principal ones performed by every In- 
dian fakir. (A detailed explanation of these tricks will also 
be found in Mahatma, Vol. III., Nos. 7 and 8, January and 
February, 1900. ) These " phenomena " are all shown to be 
no more than clever tricks, and any one who claims that they 
afford any evidence for the supernormal simply shows that he 
is unacquainted with the methods employed to produce them. 

But the most interesting part of Doctor Hodgson's paper 
is his consideration of the alleged feats of levitation and the 
famous rope-climbing exploit, both of which are probably 
too well known to my readers to need describing here. The 
nature of the former of these phenomena is explained by its 
title ; the second is the famous feat in which a rope is 
thrown into the air by the performer, where it stays — sus- 
pended by some unknown power — and gradually stiffens, 
allowing a small boy, the fakir's assistant, to climb up it, 
and finally to disappear in the clouds! Soon, the legs and 
arms of the boy are seen to fall to the ground, then the head, 
and finally the trunk falls to earth, all before the astonished 
and horrified gaze of the onlookers. These pieces gradually 
join themselves together, and re-form the boy's body, whole 
as it was at first, and the boy goes on his way rejoicing! 

Of the levitation, I shall not speak now, beyond stating 
that it is recorded in several of the books mentioned, as 
previously stated. The value of the testimony will be vari- 
1 Proceedings S. P. U., Vol. IX., pp. 354-66. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 391 

ously estimated by individuals, partly according to their 
preconceived ideas of the limits of the possible, and partly 
according to their familiarity with the evidence that has 
been collected in various works on the subject. As I have 
considered this subject of levitation elsewhere I shall dismiss 
it for the time being, and turn to the feat that most par- 
ticularly interests us in relation to this question of hallu- 
cination and its possibilities. 

It need hardly be pointed out, I imagine, that, if this feat 
was ever witnessed by Europeans at all (i. e., if the whole 
thing is not a myth) and certain individuals imagined they 
actually witnessed it, the effect was the result of an hallu- 
cination, and not the result of seeing what actually took 
place. It need scarcely be said that the nature of the trick, 
if trick it is (the suspension of the rope by some unknown 
power ; the ascent of the boy into the clouds ; the tumbling 
down to earth of the separate members ; and, finally, the 
joining together of these into a live form again) would for- 
bid any such performance taking place in reality — except 
on a stage, e. g., when appropriate apparatus can be ar- 
ranged to perform this feat, an illusion of this sort being 
mentioned in Mahatma, Vol. III., No. 5, November, 1899. 
If such a performance was ever witnessed, therefore, it must 
have been the result of some sort of hallucination, possibly 
hypnotic, which the onlooker was experiencing at the time. 
The question, therefore, narrows itself down to this : was the 
onlooker hallucinated? 

Several reported instances seemed to show conclusively 
that such was the case, it being stated that (particularly in 
one case which the writer quoted from his own experience) 
the photographic plate of a camera revealed that nothing of 
the sort had transpired. The person witnessing the per- 
formance had actually seen it, as described, while the photo- 
graphic plate, which cannot be hypnotized and so share in 
the hallucination supposedly induced, showed that the per- 
formance had not taken place at all. Such was the story, 
at least, which reached a very large portion of the reading 
public — so large, indeed, that this is the explanation that is 



392 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

given of this illusion whenever it is mentioned, as if it were 
a fact, past all questioning ! 

Doctor Hodgson, in criticizing these articles, pointed out 
that the illustrations reproduced to back up the story (sup- 
posedly photographs) were, in reality, woodcuts, and con- 
sequently were not what they purported to be at all, and 
served to throw a grave suspicion on the story in toto. 
Later, it came to light that this story was concocted by its 
author, and had no basis in fact whatever. 1 Doctor Hodg- 
son actually doubted if the phenomenon had ever been wit- 
nessed at all, or even if any person thought he had witnessed 
it, rather inclining to the belief that these stories were in- 
variably made up " out of whole cloth," and had no real 
basis in fact — even that the sitters were hallucinated, as it 
is stated they were. Several cases have lately come to light, 
however, particularly a recent and well-recorded one, 2 
which would seem to show that the stories have at least some 
basis of truth. I shall accordingly consider the cases as if 
they actually existed, merely pointing out that such per- 
formances are extremely rare, even if they exist at all. Doc- 
tor Hodgson never witnessed the illusion, nor could he find 
any one who had a first-hand account to offer him ; " even 
Colonel Olcott," says Doctor Hodgson, " a faithful servant 
of Mme. Blavatsky, . . . told me, after several years' res- 
idence in India, he had never witnessed the rope-tying per- 
formance." 3 At the same time Doctor Hodgson was willing 
to admit that the story may have originated because of some 
hypnotically induced hallucination, akin to those induced by 
our Western hypnotists. The evidence, as it stands, is cer- 
tainly inconclusive, in any case, and though there is a cer- 
tain analogy between these performances and those of D. D. 
Home, e. g., the inaccuracy in recording, the doubt sur- 
rounding these phenomena can be said to offer no direct 
support to the theory of hallucination in Home's case, which 
must stand or fall on its own merits. It can derive no real 

^Journal S. P. P., Vol. V., pp. 847-86, 195. 
. 2 Journal S. P. R., Vol. XII., pp. 30-1. 
8 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IX., p. 363. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 393 

support from the performances of Oriental conjurers. On 
the subject of Oriental magic generally I cannot do better 
than to conclude this summary in the words of Doctor 
Hodgson, to be found in the article so frequently referred 
to already. In summing up the evidence for the supernor- 
mal in these performances, he says: 

" I conclude, therefore, that, in spite of the strong asser- 
tions of a distinguished conjurer, we have before us no real 
evidence to the manifestation by Indian jugglers or fakirs 
of any marvels beyond the power of trickery to produce. 
. . . The conjurer's mere assertion that certain marvels are 
not explicable by trickery is worth just as much as the 
savant's mere assertion that they must he so explicable, — 
just as much, and no more. 

" There is no royal road to sound opinions on such mat- 
ters generally ; there is nothing for it save to examine each 
narrative on its own merits, and with close individual care, 
the mind meanwhile prepared for either fate, whether to 
prick some bubble of pretension into empty falsity, or to 
discover beneath some unpromising envelope a germ of 
inexplicable truth." * 

We find, therefore, that this testimony in no wise lends 
support to the theory of hallucination in the Home case, 
but rather shows us how impossible such a theory is. And, 
if the evidence cannot be strengthened in this direction, it 
cannot find support in any other; for, as we have seen, no 
other known facts are in any way similar to the phenomena 
observed in Home's presence. I do not urge that the phe- 
nomena are numerous enough or the reports conclusive 
enough to warrant our accepting levitation as a fact in 
nature, but we should certainly discourage any attempts to 
assert that hallucination is enough to account for all that 
was witnessed at Home's seances. What the real explana- 
tion may be I do not pretend to know; I am only arguing 
here against the tendency to explain, in too offhand a man- 
ner, phenomena which have every appearance of being both 
real and objective. 

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. IX. ; p. 365-6. 



394 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

V § S. Elongation 

Another of the marvellous feats witnessed in Home's pres- 
ence was that of " elongation," in which the medium's body 
was, apparently, lengthened or drawn out a number of 
inches, and quite beyond the limits of any normal extension 
possible. This is one of the best attested, and at the same 
time one of the most incredible phenomena witnessed in this 
medium's presence, varied as those phenomena were. One or 
two typical reports of this phenomenon are as follows: 

" Mr. H. D. Jencken, of Norwood, England, communi- 
cates, under the date of December, 1867, his experiences at 
four seances, at which the body of D. D. Home was elon- 
gated; and on all these occasions, Mr. J. used his utmost 
endeavor to make certain of the fact. On two of them, he 
had the amplest opportunity of examining Mr. Home, and 
measured the actual elongation and shortening. At one, the 
extension appeared to take place at the waist, and the cloth- 
ing separated eight or ten inches. Mr. J., who is six feet, 
hardly reached up to Home's shoulder. Walking to and 
fro, Home especially called attention to the fact of his feet 
being firmly planted on the ground. ' He then grew shorter,' 
says Mr. J., ' until he only reached my shoulder, his waistcoat 
overlapping at his hip. . . . Encouraging every mode of 
testing the truth of this marvellous phenomenon, Mr. Home 

made me hold his feet, whilst the Hon. Mr. placed 

his hands on his head and shoulders. The elongation was 
repeated three times. Twice, whilst he was standing, the 

extension, measured on the wall by the Hon. Mr. — , 

showed eight inches ; the extension at the waist, as measured 
by Mr. , was six inches ; and the third time the elon- 
gation occurred, Mr. Home was seated next to Mrs. , 

who placed her hand on his head, and her feet on his feet, had 
the utmost difficulty in keeping her position, as Mr. Home's 
body grew higher and higher ; the extreme extension reached 
being six inches.' " 1 

Very much the same description of the phenomenon was 
1 Planchette, by Epes Sargent, p. 100-1. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 395 

given by the Master of Lindsay (the Earl of Crawford), 
as follows: 

"... I saw Mr. Home, in a trance, elongated eleven 
inches. I measured him standing up against the wall, and 
marked the place; not being satisfied with that, I put him 
in the middle of the room, and placed a candle in front of 
him, so as to throw a shadow on the wall, which I also 
marked. When he awoke I measured him again in his nat- 
ural size, both directly and by the shadow, and the results 
were equal. I can swear that he was not off the ground or 
standing on tiptoe, as I had full view of his feet, and more- 
over, a gentleman present had one of his feet placed over 
Home's insteps, one hand on his shoulder, and the other on 
his side where the false ribs come near the hip-bone. . . . 
The top of the hip-bone and the short ribs separate. In 
Home, they are usually close together. There was no sepa- 
ration of the vertebras of the spine; nor were the elonga- 
tions at all like those resulting from expanding the chest 
with air; the shoulders did not move. Home looked as if 
he was pulled up by the neck ; the muscles seemed in a state 
of tension. He stood firmly in the middle of the room, and, 
before the elongation commenced, I placed my foot on his 
instep. I will swear he never moved his heels from the 
ground." * 

It is true that there are several minor defects in the rec- 
ords, as given above, which detract from the strength of the 
evidence. Thus, it is hard to see how the Earl of Crawford 
had a " full view " of the medium's feet, when we learn that 
they were covered by the feet of another sitter; nothing is 
said as to the amount of light admitted at these seances, and 
it is very suspicious that the vertebras did not separate, when 
the length of the elongation would seem to call for such 
separation, if genuine. However, the defects in the report 
seem to me to be such as would be made by any person 
drawing up a report of unusual occurrences ; minor inac- 
curacies exist, but the central facts seem to have been care- 
fully noted, and rather more than the usual care exercised 
1 Dialectical Report, pp. 207-8, 213-4. 



396 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

against fraud. It is hard to consider seriously this phe- 
nomenon as genuine; but, on the other hand, if we are to 
keep an open mind, what right have we to dismiss the phe- 
nomenon as impossible or inconceivable, merely because it is 
not understandable? If we had been at the seance in ques- 
tion, it is possible that our belief would be as strong as those 
who recorded the phenomena ; for the present, it would seem 
best to hold our judgment in suspense, awaiting further 
evidence. 

A case of apparent elongation occurred in 1900; it was 
investigated by Mr. Podmore, and a report of the case 
printed in Journal S. P. R., Vol. X., pp. 104-9. In this 
case the medium, Mr. Alfred Peters, stood in the corner of 
the room, which was poorly lighted, and, after being " con- 
trolled," began swaying backward and forward. Two sit- 
ters stationed themselves one on either side of the medium, 
placed their feet on his feet, and one hand on his hip (the 
one nearest to them), the other hands grasping those of the 
medium. Under these conditions, the medium was elongated. 
" Both my brother and I looked to see that we were still on 
his feet, and that our hands were on his waist ; we were both 
conscious that the hands we had placed on the waist were 
being carried up as the elongation gradually took place. 
Keeping our eyes upon him we found that we had to stretch 
our arms to their fullest extent (without rising from our 
seats) to retain their position on the waist. On my attempt- 
ing to arise from my chair, the ' Indian ' requested me to 
remain seated. At last a point was reached when I called to 
my brother, ' If he goes any higher I can't reach,' my arm 
being stretched to its very fullest extent; at the same time 
I was conscious, and so was my brother, that our feet were 
still on the medium's feet. The 6 red Indian ' (who was con- 
trolling) called to us then to observe his hands, one arm (the 
hand and fingers being open and extended) being quite six 
inches longer than the other; from our position, this was 
difficult for my brother and me to see, but was quite apparent 
to Mrs. S. . . . Again our attention was directed to the 
fact that the shorter arm had been lengthened to match the 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 397 

other. We had now arrived at the limit of our powers of 
extension, and, with a warning from the * Indian,' the me- 
dium collapsed on to the floor." 

When this case appeared (which is at least interesting, if 
only to show that phenomena of the kind still occur), I sent 
in a criticism of the case, suggesting three possible methods 
of trickery by which the phenomenon might have been ac- 
complished. 1 I then said: 

" ( 1 ) We are told . . . that he ' appeared to be drawn 
upward by his hands,' which were ' stretched straight out 
above his head.' Now are we sure that his hands could reach 
nothing sufficiently substantial to enable him to raise his 
body in this way ? Of this we are told nothing definite. The 
ceiling of the ' bow window ' was lower by six inches than 
that of the remainder of the room ; and there were curtains 
separating them. On what were the curtains hung? On a 
rod, as is usually the case? And if so, would this rod be 
sufficiently substantial to sustain the medium's weight, as- 
sisted, perhaps, by one or both feet? As for the hands seen 
against the ceiling, they may have been the medium's shown 
alternately, he, meanwhile, supporting himself with the other 
hand. The objection to this hypothesis is that the medium's 
feet were held, and on this basis they would necessarily have 
to be free. When we read that the medium's ' feet ' were 
held, we must presume, in this case at least, that it was his 
shoes that were so held, and very insecurely at that. I would 
suggest, therefore, either that the medium slipped out of his 
shoes and left them under the careful supervision of their 
guardians while he ' elongated ' himself, as above described ; 
or that dummy feet were substituted, whilst his own followed 
the rest of his body, as they would under ordinary circum- 
stances. 

" (£) My second hypothesis is that dummy feet were sub- 
stituted, or his shoes left under observation, as above de- 
scribed, and that the medium mounted in some way by 
means of his stocking feet. This would cause his body to 
be elevated from the floor to the extent described and enable 
1 Journal S. P. R., Vol. X., pp. 238-40. 



398 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

his arms to be seen against the ceiling, as they would really 
be at that height from the ground floor. The question is, 
on what did the medium find a foothold? We read (p. 108), 
'the only chair near (D) I pushed away when the medium 
began to sway backward and forward, fearing he would 
knock himself against it.' On the other hand, the chairs 
A and B were not moved during the whole phenomenon — 
6 we none of us moved from our chairs during the whole 
time. 5 " (These chairs were those on either side of the me- 
dium, and I advanced the theory that the medium was en- 
abled to place his feet on the rungs of the chairs). ..." It 
must be remembered that the attention of the investigators 
seems to have been almost entirely concentrated on the me- 
dium's arms and upper portion of his body; he, no doubt, 
attracting attention thereto. . . . From their strained posi- 
tion, observation must have been next to impossible. 

" (3) My third hypothesis I admit to be exceedingly im- 
probable, but it is, to my mind, more conceivable than a 
genuine manifestation of the phenomenon of elongation. It 
is that the medium employed dummy arms to display against 
the background of the ceiling, and that some sliding mechan- 
ism was attached to his body, which, being elevated, would 
carry the investigator's hands along with it (his feet remain- 
ing on the floor), and thus give the sensation of moving the 
whole upper part of the medium's body. It will be observed 
that only the medium's hands and arms were actually seen 
to be at an unusual distance from the floor ; nothing is said 
of the body being seen in its elevated position, it being 
merely inferred from the sense of touch." 

I think that Mr. Podmore's suggestion is more probable 
than any of my own, however, it being that " the elongation 
was effected by some simple mechanism, such as steel stilts, 
concealed in his boots and trousers." 1 

The evidence for this case, however, is distinctly inferior 
to that in the case of Home, both with regard to quality 
and quantity. It is hard to see how Home could have pro- 
duced his own cases of elongation by trickery; the nearest 
1 Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., pp. 261-2. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 399 

attempt to an explanation that has been offered is that by 
Mr. Podmore, in a passage following that just quoted. He 
there says : " That Home used any such concealed apparatus 
of the kind (just described) is, I think, improbable. The 
evidence in his case, either from want of detail, length of 
time between event and record, or the attendant circum- 
stances, such as feebleness of illumination, is so defective 
that it is easier to attribute the results recorded to illusion, 
which Home may no doubt have eked out on occasion by 
such devices as slipping his feet half out of his boots, and 
standing on tiptoe, or supporting himself on some convenient 
articles of furniture" (p. 262). 

The question of Home's elongation is likely to go un- 
solved until another medium shall arise who can duplicate 
the phenomena under the same conditions. If such a medium 
ever comes to light, it will be time to consider, seriously, this 
phenomenon of elongation. 

§ 4. The " Fire Tests " 

We now turn to consider another phase of the mediumship 
exhibited through Home, and in some ways the most remark- 
able, in others the most suspicious, of them all. I refer to 
the so-called " fire tests ; " to those cases, i. e. } where it is 
reported that the medium is enabled to take from the fire, 
and handle with impunity, live coals ; to handle heated lamp- 
chimneys without harm; to pass handkerchiefs through the 
flame of a candle without in any way injuring the fabric; all 
such feats as these may be classed under our general heading 
of " fire tests," whether they ultimately prove to be fraudu- 
lent or genuine in character. 

I shall begin by quoting some of the reports of these oc- 
currences, written by different witnesses, reserving the crit- 
ical considerations until later on. The first report of the 
kind is that of the Master of Lindsay (the Earl of Craw- 
ford), and is printed in the Report of the Dialectical Society, 
pp. 208-9. It reads, in part : 

" I have frequently seen Home, when in a trance, go to 



400 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

the fire and take out large red-hot coals, and carry them 
about in his hands, put them inside his shirt, etc. Eight 
times, I have myself held a red-hot coal in my hands with- 
out injury, when it scorched my face on raising my hand. 
Once, I wished to see if they really would burn, and I said 
so, and touched the coal with the middle finger of my right 
hand, and I got a blister as large as a sixpence ; I instantly 
asked him to give me the coal, and I held the part that burnt 
me in the middle of my hand, for three or four minutes, with- 
out the least inconvenience. 

" A few weeks ago, I was at a seance with eight others. 
Of these, seven held a red-hot coal without pain, and the two 
others could not bear the approach of it ; of the seven, four 
were ladies." Miss Douglas, one of the witnesses, in answer 
to questions, stated that " Mr. Home held the hot coals a 
long time in his hand, till they were nearly black. He then 
placed them between his shirt and coat, and they did not 
singe either." 

The other accounts I shall quote are from the records of 
Sir William Crookes. One very notable seance took place on 
the 9th of May, 1871. The room was lighted by a wood 
fire as well as four candles, placed in various parts of the 
room. Two of these candles were extinguished, leaving 
the room still lighted by two and the wood fire. Home then 
borrowed a cambric handkerchief, which he folded and 
placed upon the open palm of his hand. On this he now 
placed a piece of red-hot charcoal, which he had just ex- 
tracted from the fire, and fanned this charcoal with his 
breath, until it became white hot. The handkerchief was 
afterward found intact, all but a small hole, which had been 
burnt in it. Sir William Crookes took the handkerchief 
with him into the laboratory, and an analysis found that it 
was in every way unprepared, chemically or otherwise. 

The last account I quote verbatim, " Mr. Home again 
went to the fire, and after stirring the hot coals about with 
his hand, took out a red-hot piece nearly as big as an orange, 
and putting it on his right hand, covered it over with his 
left hand, so as to almost completely enclose it, and then 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 401 

blew into the small furnace thus extemporized until the lump 
of charcoal was nearly white-hot, and then drew my atten- 
tion to the lambent flame which was flickering over the coal 
and licking round his fingers; he fell on his knees, looked 
up in a reverent manner, held up the coal in front, and said, 
' Is not God good? Are not his laws wonderful? ' " * 

Now, all this is very wonderful indeed. D. D. Home was 
not alone in producing these phenomena; they were ob- 
served in the presence of other mediums besides Home, but 
never under such good " test conditions." It is impossible 
to read the accounts without being impressed with the re- 
markable character of the evidence, the quality and quantity 
of which, in Home's case, could hardly be improved upon. 
It is impossible, it seems to me, to dismiss this evidence on the 
ground that it is mere fraud and nothing else. It is pos- 
sible that the handkerchief in question might have been sub- 
stituted for another that was in some way prepared to with- 
stand the fire, after one of the methods to be mentioned 
shortly. But we must bear in mind that Home also took 
these coals into his open hands, and kept them there some 
considerable time, blowing on the coals, rendering them white- 
hot, and allowing the flames to lick round his fingers. In 
order to explain these facts, we should have to assume either 
that Home had some chemical substance on his hands, which 
rendered them impervious to the influence of the heat; or 
that Home had some " non-conducting substance " in his 
hands which protected them from the live coals. 2 Sir Will- 
iam Crookes states there is no known substance that will pro- 
tect the hands against such heat as that which must be as- 
sumed in these cases, while Mr. Lang laughs at Mr. Pod- 
more's " non-conducting substance." Mr. Podmore himself 
suggested asbestos cloth, as being the " substance " in ques- 
tion. It is conceivable that this might have been employed, 
though highly improbable, one would think, because so easy 
to detect. Even were we to grant the use of this substance, 
still, how are we to account for the handkerchief test, on this 

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. VI., p. 103. 
3 Studies in Psychical Research, p. 121. 



402 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

principle, and, above all, how are we to account for those 
cases in which the sitter himself took the red-hot coal into 
his own hands, holding it there for some minutes? Either 
these phenomena require some explanation other than fraud, 
or the accounts are inaccurate to a degree one would be quite 
unwarranted in assuming them to be. For many reasons, 
I, at least, cannot believe this to be the case, and I conse- 
quently prefer to hold my judgment in suspense, so far as 
these phenomena go, and to offer no theory. 

It is true that certain explanations of these phenomena 
have been offered from time to time, in various books on 
magic and kindred subjects. As the reader may be inclined 
to form an opinion of these phenomena different from my 
own, and incline to the hypothesis that all these tests are 
fraud, and nothing but fraud, if only the right explanation 
of the phenomena were forthcoming, I herewith break off to 
describe the principal devices that are used by mediums in 
imitating these phenomena, since I do not deny that the vast 
majority of the phenomena witnessed are produced by fraud- 
ulent means. 

There are preparations that may be applied to the hands 
that will protect them from great heat for a considerable 
time. One of these preparations is the following, which I 
give on the authority of the author of The Revelations of a 
Spirit Medium, " Dissolve one-half ounce of camphor in two 
ounces of aqua vitas; add one ounce of quicksilver, and one 
ounce of liquid styrax, which is the product of the myrrh, 
and which prevents the camphor from igniting. Shake and 
mix well together. Bathe the inside of the hand and the 
fingers in this preparation, allowing it to dry in, and you 
can duplicate the performance with the lamp-chimney, and 
hold your fingers in the blaze quite a while without any bad 
effects" (p. 98). 

If it is desired to hold a handkerchief over a flame, with- 
out burning it, or to pass the hair through the fire without 
singeing it, all that the medium has to do is to soak the hair 
or the handkerchief in a solution made in the following 
manner. Fill a teacup with water, and in this dissolve all 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 403 

the salt the water will contain. In another cup, dissolve a 
tablespoonful of soda in warm water. Now pour the two 
solutions together, and mix them thoroughly. When this is 
done, the hair, handkerchief, or whatever article it is pro- 
posed to pass through the flame, is soaked in this mixture. 
Allow each article to thoroughly dry. They may now be 
passed through the fire uninjured. 

It is said that articles soaked in alum water are fireproof, 
to a certain extent. It has also been asserted that, by rub- 
bing the soles of the feet with a preparation of salt water 
and powdered red stone (the proportion being two ounces 
of red stone to a cupful of brine) several steps may be taken 
over red-hot iron, without injury, a fact that is interesting 
in connection with the fire-walking phenomena, to be men- 
tioned presently. 

Although the above methods of trickery might explain 
such phenomena as the " handkerchief test," therefore, and 
such minor tests as the handling of heated lamp-chimneys, 
coals that are only partially heated, etc., it would not explain, 
to my mind, the more extraordinary phenomena of the hand- 
ling of red-hot coals in any such manner as Home was in the 
habit of handling them ; and certainly would not explain 
the fact of how it came about that the sitters themselves were, 
at times, enabled to handle the coals. It may be true, as Mr. 
Podmore asserted was the case, that a coal which is white- 
hot at one end may not be too hot at the other to handle with 
the bare hands, which would seem to be corroborated by 
" Uncle Remus's " statement that the negroes sometimes 
" take up live pieces of coal to light their pipes withal ; " 
still the facts are not explained by any of these tentative 
theories, none of the explanations sufficing to explain the 
facts, providing the records are accurate. The only other 
explanation that I have been able to find is the following, 
which I quote from Henry R. Evans's Hours with the Ghosts, 
pp. 106-7. 1 

" Home's extraordinary feat of alternately cooling and 
heating a lump of coal taken from a blazing fire, as related 
1 This book now bears the title " The Spirit World Unmasked." 



404 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

by Mr. H. D. Jencken and others, is easily explained. It is 
a juggling trick. The coal is a piece of spongy platinum 
which bears a close resemblance to a lump of half -burnt coal, 
and is palmed in the hand, as a prestidigitateur conceals a 
coin, a pack of cards, an egg, or a small lemon. The medium 
or magician advances to the grate and pretends to take a 
genuine lump of coal from the fire, but brings up instead, at 
the tips of his fingers, the piece of platinum. In a secret 
breast pocket of his coat he has a small reservoir of hydro- 
gen, with a tube coming down the sleeve and terminating an 
inch or so above the cuff. By means of certain mechanical 
arrangements, to enable him to let on and off the gas at the 
proper moment, he is able to accomplish the trick ; for when 
a current of Irydrogen is allowed to impinge upon a piece 
of spongy platinum, the metal becomes incandescent, and as 
soon as the current is arrested the platinum is restored to 
its normal condition." 

This explanation is certainly ingenious, but I do not see 
how it can be made to explain these phenomena in the Home 
seances. In the first place we must give so expert a chemist 
as Sir William Crookes the credit for being able to distin- 
guish between a live coal and a piece of incandescent plat- 
inum — with the looks of both of which he was surely well 
acquainted. Then, too, how is the smell, inseparable from 
an experiment of this kind, to be accounted for? For we must 
remember that the seances all took place in a private house. 
Finally, how are we to explain the fact that the sitter, on 
several occasions, held the live coal in his own hands? Did 
Home have the audacity to hand his sitter the piece of plat- 
inum too? And if so, how came it about that the sitter felt 
the heat of the coal with his cheek, at the time he was holding 
it in his hands, and even raised a blister on his finger " the 
size of a sixpence " ? To my mind, the explanations do not 
explain. What the ultimate explanation may be, or whether 
the phenomena will ever be explained at all, I do not know; 
I am merely protesting against the tendency to explain, too 
readily, phenomena that are not understood, in the state of 
our present-day knowledge, and the explanations of which 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 405 

must not be forced, because " an explanation of some kind 
must be found " of the phenomena observed ! Better have 
no explanation at all than to adopt a wrong one. 

In considering these phenomena, it must be borne in mind 
that those observed in the presence of D. D. Home are not 
the only ones of the sort that have been recorded. Outside 
of the phenomena produced in the presence of professional 
mediums, outside of the phenomena of seances altogether, 
there are many recorded cases in which individuals have been 
enabled to handle and to walk over red-hot coals, without 
visible injury, this performance being known, in the parts 
of the world where it is practised, as the " fire-walk." In 
order to show the close resemblance between these phenom- 
ena, observed mostly in uncivilized countries, and such phe- 
nomena as those observed in the presence of D. D. Home (at 
least I presume this was the main motive?), Mr. Andrew 
Lang collected and published in Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. 
XV., pp. 2-15, a collection of well attested cases of the fire- 
walk, some of them being of quite recent date. 

Here we find cases in which natives walk across beds of 
blazing coals with bare feet, without receiving burns, or 
even marks that would seem to indicate that the flesh had 
in any way been subjected to great heat. It is asserted that 
the heat is withstood by the natives on account of the ex- 
treme toughness of the soles of their feet, they being hard- 
ened by continued walking barefooted from childhood. 
This explanation does not altogether cover the case, however, 
as can readily be seen, when we take into consideration the 
fact (1) that the stones or coals across which the natives 
walk would presumably burn flesh, however hardened or 
toughened (the heat, for instance, being great enough to 
instantly cause a green branch of the ti the natives carried 
with them to burst into flame, when thrown on to the coals 
or heated stones — p. 5); and (2) because the natives who 
wore European dress, shoes included, and even Europeans 
themselves, have walked through the fire without in any way 
being harmed, Colonel Gudgeon, British resident, Raro- 



406 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

tonga, himself going through this ordeal, under the guidance 
of the native priests. 1 

Similar cases of fire-walking are recorded in various other 
books, and in other places. Mr. Lowell has seen cases in 
Japan. 2 A remarkable case will be found in William E. 
Barton's Faith as Related to Health, pp. 45-7. Several very 
fine cases are reported in Journal S. P. R. 9 Vol. IX., pp. 

1 This is very interesting, and has often been observed in ordeals of this 
character. Mr. Lowell, for instance, tells us, in his Occult Japan, that he 
witnessed the performance of walking upon sharp swords — the edges of 
which he examined and found to be " as sharp as one would care to handle 
— from the hilt — and much sharper than he would care to handle in any 
less legitimate manner." The native priests, nevertheless, walked up a 
ladder of these swords, without cutting or even indenting the soles of their 
feet. The explanation offered is that this " miracle " is due, partly to the 
toughness of the soles of the feet (which may, perhaps, have been helped 
along by some preparation rubbed into the soles), and partly to the fact 
that the priests were careful not to let the foot slip on the knife-edge — a 
large amount of pressure being required to cut the flesh, if the pressure be 
applied gradually, and without allowing the knife-edge to slip along the 
surface of the skin. This is the explanation offered in Shaw's Book of Acts, 
in which a large number of these " side show " tricks and devices are exposed. 
That the completeness of such an explanation is questionable (so far as 
it relates to the toughness of the soles of the feet) is proved by the fact that 
Mr. Lowell's own " boy" did the same thing in front of his very eyes! 
" Asa, my house-boy, fired to emulation, suddenly pulled off his European 
boots and socks, rolled up his European trousers, and presented himself 
for a candidate for the climb. To my eye, the outlandishness of his dress, 
amid the archaic costumes of the priests, gave him at once that unsuitable 
appearance to the deed so consecrated to the supposed countryman who 
volunteers at the circus. I should certainly have had my doubts about the 
genuineness of his inexperience had I not known him for my own boy. . . . 
To my surprise, and I think his own, he went as well as the best of them. 
We watched him with some vanity and more concern, and were suddenly 
electrified when, half-way up to the top, he turned, and, with a triumphant 
smile, made, he too, the approved coryphee kick high in the air. It brought 
down the house, but not the boy, who continued on successfully, till at 
last he stepped out triumphantly at the top. He was obliged to abbreviate 
the prayer, from not knowing it, and then he too came down the regulation 
back stairs " (p. 83). 

The point to observe, in the above narrative, is that it is wrong to at- 
tribute any part of the success of the performance to the toughness of the 
soles of the feet existing in those persons undergoing the test. The ex- 
planation must be found elsewhere — whether it be that offered by Mr. 
Lowell or not. Doubtless the explanation of this test is a perfectly normal 
one. My only reason for calling attention to it here is in order to show 
that the toughness of the soles of the feet — always assumed by Europeans 
as sufficient to explain anything of the kind recorded — frequently does 
not exist, as, in the fire tests, Europeans and persons having tender feet 
are enabled to go through the test just as easily as the natives. This is also 
true of the remarkable cases of boiling water tests, mentioned by Mr. 
Lowell (pp. 43-6), which we cannot stop to consider now. 

2 Occult Japan, pp. 47-62. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 407 

312-21. Professor Langley, of the Smithsonian Institute, 
Washington, reported a very interesting case in Journal 
S. P. R. y Vol. X., pp. 116-21. Further cases and discussions 
will be found in Journal, Vol. X., pp. 132-4, 154-5, 250-3, 
etc. 

The net result of the discussion so far is this : that there 
are evidences of a capacity by the body for resisting great 
heat for a certain period, be the explanation of that fact 
normal or supernormal. We have seen that the phenomena 
observed in the presence of Home, on certain occasions, is 
paralleled by certain other cases in which much the same 
phenomena occurred, and which cannot, at least, be attrib- 
uted to fraudulent manipulation of the coals, substitution of 
" spongy platinum," etc., as in the case of Home. The ex- 
planation of these phenomena may ultimately prove to be a 
purely normal one, though the evidence, in some cases, would 
seem to point to a contrary conclusion. However, the ques- 
tion of the interpretation and explanation of the facts does 
not concern us now. Our chief and immediate concern is the 
question whether such phenomena really occur at all, they 
being of such a nature as to apparently suggest a super- 
normal explanation? If the phenomena are proved to exist, 
then it will be time enough for us to search for the causes 
and explanations of the phenomena. The evidence accumu- 
lated in recent times, supplementing that obtained in the 
presence of D. D. Home, certainly seems to show that these 
phenomena really do exist, be their explanation what it may. 

A word as to the possible explanation of such facts, should 
they ever prove to be such. It has been proved, in recent 
years, that a hypnotic subject can, by appropriate sugges- 
tion, be made quite insensible to pain, and may even be 
severely burnt and otherwise injured, without being in any 
way aware of the fact. The skin is not injured to the same 
extent that it would be, were the experiment conducted under 
normal conditions, and the burns heal far more rapidly than 
they would normally heal. Now, the fire-walkers are, as a 
rule, in a state closely bordering on trance ; the religious 
ecstasy into which they have worked themselves being in 



408 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

many ways allied to that condition, as can readily be shown. 
This, then, would partially, at least, account for the lack of 
pain experienced at the time, and enable us to understand 
how it is that the natives can walk through the " fiery furnace 
a la mode " without experiencing the pain and suffering usu- 
ally associated with burns or the proximity of extreme heat, 
such as that which must doubtless be present, in many cases. 
But, as Mr. Podmore points out, 1 " the insensibility even to 
severe pain which accompanies states of trance and ecstasy, 
(while it) would no doubt account for the subjective immun- 
ity of the devotees, (still) it will hardly explain why the skin 
of the bare feet and legs was not scorched by the heat which, 
in some cases, according to the observers, kindled green 
leaves and melted solder on a thermometer case." That is 
the crux. Why was not the flesh burnt, even though the 
pain was not felt by the fire-walker? We must assume that 
this mental condition would be such only, and could not affect 
the conditions of, and injuries to, the bodily tissue. Yet, 
even here, we might find a partial explanation, and without 
going beyond the bounds or recognized limits of physiology 
and psychology. The mental condition has much to do with 
the speedy or slow recovery of the patient, far more than 
most people know or would admit, until the facts are ex- 
plained to them. The fact is that in burns generally it is 
the cure that constitutes the complaint. It is the body's 
feverish anxiety to repair the damage that causes all the 
trouble. Even in the severest burns very little of us is ever 
burnt up, but our own alarm that it may be induces our 
consequent inflammation. Delboeuf showed this conclusively 
upon one of his hypnotized patients. Faith, therefore, does 
in very truth work the miracle. To a large extent the 
mental condition can, in reality, affect the bodily conditions, 
and the effects of the burns received. 

It might be conceived, indeed, that the explanation lies 
deeper than any that have so far been offered. It might be 
conceived, it appears to me, that the " emanations " proceed- 
ing from the human body, discovered by Reichenbach, and 
1 Modern Spiritualism, Vol. II., p. 265. 



The Mediumship of D. D. Home 409 

established scientifically by De Rochas, Elmer Gates, and 
others (if reports speak truly), might be sufficiently centred 
and concentrated at one point to have the effect of resisting 
the effects of heat, for some considerable period, — thereby 
preventing it from reaching the skin of the person under- 
going the trial. It would, in fact, act as a sort of protect- 
ing surface or veil. I offer this suggestion for what it is 
worth, as I have not noticed it advanced elsewhere, and, with 
this speculative conclusion, I leave this branch of the dis- 
cussion. 



CHAPTER XXII 

TRANCE THE CASE OF MRS. PIPER 

On p. 5, it was pointed out that the real problem of 
spiritualism was whether or not it was possible to establish 
any sort of communication with a spirit-world, thereby ob- 
taining evidence of the soul's survival of bodily death, that 
being, in fact, the real problem, the physical phenomena hav- 
ing nothing to do with the question, strictly speaking. The 
question before the scientific world is merely whether it is 
possible, by some means or another, to isolate some individual 
consciousness after death, so to speak, and to get into com- 
munication with it. If that consciousness was then enabled 
to give proofs of its identity, — to furnish proofs that it 
was, in reality, the consciousness it claimed to be, — then we 
should have scientifically demonstrated the existence of the 
soul apart from the physical organism, from which it fol- 
lows that it is possible for the soul to exist, because it actu- 
ally does so ! It is useless to argue about the " possibility " 
of the soul's existence, when we have facts at hand which will 
either prove or disprove it. The question should be treated 
as purely an evidential one, the proof centring around the 
fact of whether or not the soi-disant spirit is enabled to pro- 
duce evidence, as a proof of its identity, which is convincing 
to the scientific world. In order for a spirit to do this, it 
would be necessary for it to show a knowledge of certain 
facts and be possessed of certain information which that per- 
son knew in real life, and which it might be supposed to 
know still. If the communicating intelligence shows just this 
knowledge, and demonstrates that it is possessed of the in- 
formation that that person, alive, possessed; and if this is 

410 



Trance — The Case of Mrs. Piper 411 

given to the world through the medium, then we have very 
good evidence that the intelligence is what it claims to be — 
the spirit of the departed person. If it is not, where did 
the medium obtain the knowledge of the facts which is 
exhibited in the trance state? 

A number of methods in which this knowledge can be 
obtained by fraudulent means have already been given (pp. 
312-18), and that the vast majority of mediums employ 
some such methods, and obtain their knowledge of sitters' 
dead friends and relatives in the manner there suggested, 
there can be no doubt. The majority of all " test " and 
" trance mediums " are frauds, just as the mediums for phys- 
ical manifestations are frauds. Mediums will combine to- 
gether and exchange information about prospective and pres- 
ent sitters, and furnish one another with all the information 
they need, in order to dazzle the sitter with the number, the 
exactitude, and the quality of the tests furnished. An aston- 
ishing amount of information can be acquired in this manner, 
and palmed off upon the sitter as genuine spirit evidence. 
Before we can seriously consider the supernormal powers of 
any trance medium, therefore, or the information that is im- 
parted through her, we must first of all satisfy ourselves 
that the medium is genuine, and not a mere fraud, and that 
the messages are delivered in a genuine trance state, before 
considering the internal value of the evidence. The question 
of fraud must first of all be considered in such cases, and the 
fact thoroughly demonstrated that it does not enter into the 
question, before the messages can have any weight whatever. 

In the case of Mrs. Piper, this question of fraud was con- 
sidered most carefully in the early years of the Society's 
investigations, and the more we study the case, the more are 
we convinced that there cannot possibly be any system of 
fraud that would account for it. Were all the mediums in 
the United States to combine their information, for the ex- 
clusive use of Mrs. Piper, and were she to conduct an elab- 
orate system of private and paid inquiry herself, that would 
not begin to account for many of the incidents that have 
transpired at the Piper seances, or for the case as a whole. 



412 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

The theory of fraud was carefully considered by Mr. Pod- 
more, 1 who concluded that fraud could not be stretched suffi- 
ciently to cover the case. This was also the opinion of Mrs. 
Henry Sidgwick, 2 Mr. Andrew Lang, 3 Prof. W. R. New- 
bold, 4 as well as of all those who have drawn up the reports 
on Mrs. Piper's trances — Doctor Hodgson, Sir Oliver 
Lodge, Dr. Walter Leaf, Prof. William James, Professor 
Hyslop, Professor Sidgwick, Mrs. Sidgwick, Mr. Myers, 
Professor Richet, etc. That so acute an investigator as 
Doctor Hodgson — one so well acquainted with the tricks 
and devices employed by fraudulent mediums — should be 
convinced of this medium's honesty, is strong evidence in her 
favor, if there were none other available. But the conditions 
of the case rendered it quite impossible for the medium to 
have obtained her information by fraudulent means, partly 
because the watch kept upon her was too strict, and partly 
because the medium was taken to England for purposes of 
investigation by members of the S. P. R., and she had, per- 
force, to live in the home of one or other of the investigators, 
throughout her stay there. It is useless for me to attempt 
any statement of the case here, however, my space being far 
too limited; interested readers I would refer to the Reports 
themselves, and they can form their own opinions thereon. 

Once the genuine nature of the trance state be granted, 
and the fact that the messages that come through the 
medium's mouth (automatic utterance), or hand (auto- 
matic writing), are not the products of conscious fraud, 
there is opened before us a problem the extent of which no 
man can fathom. That does not necessarily mean that the 
messages that are delivered in the trance state are spirit 
messages — not by any means ; they may be the result of 
the activity of the secondary consciousness of the medium, 
active, at the time, and passing itself off as a spirit — the 
supernormal knowledge displayed being gained by means of 
telepathy, clairvoyance, and such supernormal processes, and 

1 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XIV., pp. 50-78. 

2 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XV., pp. 16-38. 

3 Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XV., pp. 39-52. 
* Proceedings S. P. R., Vol. XIV., pp. 6-49. 



Trance — The Case of Mrs. Piper 413 

woven together by the medium's secondary consciousness to 
personate a spirit. We know that this is frequently done, the 
analogy of hypnotically induced personalities guiding us in 
the investigation of these trance personalities. Whether we 
have to seek beyond any such interpretation of the facts, and 
be ultimately forced into an acceptance of some sort of spir- 
itistic theory, as a working hypothesis, is too large a ques- 
tion to be discussed here. In such books as Professor 
Hyslop's Science and a Future Life and M. Sage's Mrs. 
Piper and the Society for Psychical Research the problem 
will be found discussed at length, though in a semi-popular 
manner, suitable for readers who do not care to read through 
the voluminous reports contained in the Society's Proceed- 
ings. To those books and publications I would refer the 
interested student for full particulars of this most marvellous 
case. 

The difficulties that are encountered in any investigation 
such as this should be apparent. Even after the genuine 
supernormal state has been granted, the problem only begins, 
and the difficulties within the problem are such as to cause 
many a man to halt and turn back. But it must be pointed 
out that, whether spiritism be accepted or not, as the true 
explanation of the present problem, there is no scientific 
objection to the theory of spiritism, as such, as many per- 
sons think. It must be remembered that, even in this life, 
we only infer the presence of a consciousness, in any individ- 
ual, by its outward manifestations, by bodily movements, or 
by the marks made upon paper by the body in some of its 
movements, and reinterpreted by us back into consciousness. 
We never come into any actual contact with a consciousness, 
throughout life, and we never can; we know it only by 
inference from external bodily or vibratory movements. 
Now, if those movements were to stop, at any time, we should 
be justified in supposing that the consciousness was no 
longer present, inasmuch as we no longer have evidence of 
its existence. Yet, in many cases, we know that this would 
be mistaken inference; as in trance, paralysis, and kindred 
states and affections that render impossible the usual outward 



414 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

manifestation of consciousness, the consciousness continues 
to exist, though there is no evidence of its existence, and we 
should theoretically be justified in asserting that the con- 
sciousness was no longer active and alive. Now, at death, 
this same cessation of the external evidences of consciousness 
takes place, but we are not thereby entitled to assert that the 
consciousness is obliterated any more than it was obliterated 
in the cases above cited. It may have been simply with- 
drawn, and this hypothesis would leave us free to believe in 
the possibility of a consciousness existing after the death of 
the body, and it would then become merely a matter of evi- 
dence as to whether it did so exist, or not. It would no 
longer be a question of theory, but of fact. And that is the 
standpoint of the psychical researcher, who throws theory 
to the winds, and confines himself to the investigation of 
facts, and to those alone. After the facts are established, 
it will be time enough to theorize about them. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 

The task I set myself is now complete, and it but remains 
for me to summarize the results attained. We have seen that 
the vast bulk of the physical phenomena of spiritualism are 
certainly produced by fraudulent means and devices, and 
that, so far as the professional medium is concerned, at any 
rate, we are to expect nothing genuine in the way of either 
mental or physical phenomena. It is best to rely entirely 
on the results obtained through the services of non-profes- 
sional mediums, and even here we must assure ourselves that 
the conditions of the experiment render fraud a physical im- 
possibility, before we assume that the phenomena observed are 
the result of any supernormal power or force. The methods 
by which an expert can deceive his sitter are so numerous 
that it is an utter impossibility for the average person to 
detect the fraud practised upon him, for, if he could, me- 
diumship of that character would soon be a thing of the past. 
Before the real or genuine phenomena can be discovered and 
brought to the attention of the scientific world, therefore, 
this preliminary work of disposing of the fraudulent side of 
the question must first be undertaken and systematically car- 
ried out ; and it is with the hope that this book may help, in 
some small degree, to make clear the characteristics of the 
fraudulent phenomena, and to show the means by which they 
are performed (thus placing the sitter on his guard, and 
enabling him to distinguish the fraudulent from the gen- 
uine), that the task of compiling it has been undertaken. 

While sounding a timely warning, however, by thus call- 
ing the public attention to the methods of trickery at present 

415 



416 The Physical Phenomena of Spiritualism 

in vogue, I do not wish it to be understood that I thereby 
relegate the whole of the evidence for the supernormal to 
the waste-basket. That is precisely what I do not wish to do 
or lead others to do. It is because I believe that there do 
exist certain phenomena, the explanations for which have not 
yet been found, and which I think science should be induced 
to systematically study, that I think it necessary to distin- 
guish those phenomena from the fraudulent " marvels " so 
commonly produced, and which are the only spiritualistic 
phenomena with which the public is acquainted. When these 
shall have been cleared away, and the weeding-out process 
carried sufficiently far to enable us to see what are the " real 
problems " to be solved, then the real, systematic, scientific 
study of psychic phenomena will have begun. 

In the present book, I have, accordingly, tried to show 
which phenomena are most probably genuine, and hence most 
worthy of the initial study of the scientific world. Raps, 
telekinetic phenomena, trance, apparitions, haunted houses, 
telepathy, clairvoyance, premonitions, as well as hypnotic 
phenomena, alterations of personality, subconscious mental 
activity, all these phenomena can be investigated by scientists, 
and should be investigated, since they have much evidence in 
their favor (as real phenomena) and investigation along 
these lines is much to be desired. It is to be hoped that the 
scientific world will shortly realize its duty, in this respect, 
and undertake the inquiry so long neglected. 

I cannot claim that the present book is in any way ex- 
haustive, since the subject is practically inexhaustible. New 
methods of trickery will doubtless be invented by mediums, 
from time to time ; but it is probable that the physical phe- 
nomena of spiritualism will gradually die out, owing to 
fewer and fewer believers in the reality of the phenomena, 
and that in a short time there will be but few mediums who 
can make a living at this "phase" of the subject. So soon 
as the trade ceases to be profitable, it is certain that the pro- 
fessional medium will cease to exist, and then we may arrive 
at that point when a scientific examination of genuine phe- 
nomena can be undertaken. In short, psychical research will 



Summary and Conclusion 417 

then itself become a science. It is the hope of the author 
that — by clearing away many of the obstructions that exist, 
in the shape of fraudulent phenomena — this book may help 
to lay the foundations of such a science. 



THE END. 



INDEX 



Abbott, Mrs., Performances of, 204. 

Ability to detect fraud, 60. 

Abnormality, Question of, 58, 327-30, 363-4. 

Accordion test, Zollner's, 28; methods of playing, by fraud, 199-200; 

Crookes* experiments with Home, 374-7; case recorded by M. J. 

Savage, 374. 
Aksakof, M., On a case of partial dematerialization of a medium's body, 

235-7. 
Apports, Theories of, 253; inconclusive nature of evidence for, 253; 

methods of obtaining by fraud, 254. 
Attention, Distraction of, 49. 



Baldwins, The* Their mind-reading performance, 308-10. 

Bandage test, Inconclusive nature of, 7. 

Bangs sisters, Exposure of, 91. 

Barrett, Prof. W. F., On table-turning, 65-6; on raps, 340-1, 350-1; on 
the mediumship of D. D. Home, 388. 

Bellachini, Evidence of, in favor of Slade, 40; why inconclusive, 40-1. 

Bennett, E. T., On the neglect of the investigation of raps, 346. 

Binet, Prof. A., On table-turning, 71. 

Blank seances vs. exposure, 62. 

Blavatsky, Mme., Once a spiritualist, 15; her method of obtaining spirit- 
pictures, 221. 

" Blue Book," Description of, 314-16. 

Bolts, Trick, 183. 

Braune, Prof., Levitated by Slade, 28. 

Brotherhood of mediums, 314-16. 

Cabinets, " Spirit," 184; examination of, 272-5; miniature, 202-3. 

Cage test, 184. 

Cheiro's instrument for measuring " psychic force," 358-9. 

Clairvoyance, historical evidence for, 6-7. 

Clothes, Methods of concealing, in a guitar, 249-50; in a dummy watch, 

250; in hollow boot-heel, 250; in hollow table and chair legs, 250; in 

a snare-drum, 260; in a table drawer, 261. 
Collar, " Spirit," 183. 

Colley, Archdeacon, On materialization, 238. 
Compass, Experiments with, 25-6. 
Conditions required at seances, 187, 334-5. 
Conjuring, Psychological rules of, 48, 49, 50. 
Consciousness, Always inferred, 413-14. 
Conviction, Only induced by mass of evidence, 360. 
Cotton bandage test, 149-52. 
Crawford, Earl of (see Lindsay, Master of). 

419 



420 Index 

Crookes, Sir William, On materialization, 237; on raps, 341-2; on Home's 
phenomena, 377; his spring-balance test, 373-4; on levitation, 379-80; 
on the fire tests, 400-1. 

Crowd, Psychology of, 59-60. 

Cui bono f Question of, 325-6. 



Davenport brothers, History of, 153; description of the light stance, 154-7; 

description of the dark stance, 158-61; explanation of the rope ties, 

161-4; the flour test, 164-5; playing of musical instruments, 166; 

outline of feet on paper trick, 166-7; coat test, 167. 
Davey, S. J., On Eglinton, 87-8; duplicating Eglinton's seances, 88-90. 
Dematerialization (see Materialization). 
Dessoir, Prof. Max, On the psychology of conjuring, 51. 
Development fraud, 260. 
Direction of the movement of table, 70-1. 
Dowsing, As an example of unconscious muscular action, 68-9; sensations 

during, 366. 



Eddy Brothers, Description of seance and cabinet, 193-4; explanation of 

the seance, 194-5. 
Eglinton's mediumship, 85-7, 89-90. 
Electrical conditions of the body, 359. 
Elongation, Case of D. D. Home, 394-5; nature of the evidence, 395-6, 

399; criticism of the evidence, 399; recent case of, 396-7; criticism of, 

397-8. 
Envelopes, Imperfect sealing of, 286; opacity of, 286. 
d'Esperance, Mme., Mediumship of, 235-7. 
Examination of cabinets, 272-5; of trick-slates, 123. 
Exposure vs. blank seances, 62. 
Eyes, As distractors of attention, 48. 



Facts, as opposed to their interpretation, 321-2, 323, 359, 361, 414. 

Faraday, Prof., On table-turning, 67. 

Fay, Annie Eva, 152-3 (see Cotton bandage test). 

Fays, The, Their mind-reading performance, 310-11. 

Fechner, Prof., On Slade, 28. 

Fire tests, Cases of, 399-401; nature of the evidence in, 401-2, 403, 404, 
405, 407; methods of duplicating by fraud, 402-4. 

Fire walk, Phenomena of, 405-7; possible explanations of, 407-9. 

Flammarion, Camille, On the importance of psychical research, 327. 

Flournoy, Prof., On telekinesis, 368-9. 

Force, Extent of, possessed by table, 66, 68. 

Forms, Materialized, by means of robes and masks, 251; by impersonations 
by the medium, 251. 

Foster, Charles H., Mediumship of, 7-8; exposure of, 8; confession of, 9. 

Fox sisters, 77; report of the " Buffalo Doctors," 78; inconclusive nature 
of the evidence, 78; Harvard professors on, 78; Seybert Commission 
on, 78. 

Fraud, Extent of, 6; ability to detect, 60. 

Full-form materialization, Methods of producing by fraud, 256-7 ; ma- 
terialization from the floor by fraudulent means, 257; description of 
stance for, 261-7. 

Funk, Dr. I. K., On spirit-photography, 209. 



Index 421 

Furness, Dr., On Keeler's spirit-photographs, 207. 

Future life, only proved by psychical research phenomena, 324, 327; no 
a priori objections to, 413. 

Genuine phenomena, Residuum of, 336, 416. 

Guitar, Self-playing, 197; method of playing when both hands are held, 
197-8. 

Hallucination: In connection with poltergeist phenomena, 365; at W. S. 

Moses' seances, 365; in haunted houses, 365-6; in the Home case: 

Podmore on, 386-7; evidence supporting his position, 387-8; evidence 

opposed to it, 388-93. 
Hammond, Dr., On electrical conditions of the body, 359. 
Handcuffs, The trick chain link, 179-80; methods of loosening locks, 181; 

keys, number and make of, 181; methods of disposing of the keys, 

182; manipulation of the keys, 182-3. 
Hands, materialized, methods of producing by fraud, 244-9. 
Hare, Dr., Experiments of, 19. 
Henry, T. S., On the exposure of Mrs. Mellon, 233-4. 
Hindu juggler incident, 53. 
Hodgson, Dr. R., On bandaging the eyes, 7; on Eusapia Paladino, 12; on 

the theosophical phenomena, 16, 18; on slate-writing phenomena, 57; 

on Eglinton, 86; on Mrs. Abbott, 205; on abnormal conditions in 

the trance state, 329; vitality sapped by sittings with Mrs. Piper, 

357; on Indian magic, 390, 392-3; on Mrs. Piper, 412. 
Holding tests, Satisfactory nature of, 186; amount of control allowed in, 

187; finger hold, 187; release from, 188; hands held by the medium, 

189; wrist hold, 189; release from, 190; clapping hands test, 190; 

feather test, 190; encircled arms release, 191; confederates, 191; 

foot release, 191-2; Paladino hold, 192; false hand and handkerchief 

test, 192-3. 
Home, D. D., Never detected in fraud, 372; his character, 372-3 (see under 

Levitation, Elongation, Fire tests, Accordion tests, Hallucinations; 

also Crookes, Jencken, Podmore, etc.). 
Horn, Methods of playing under test conditions, 201-2. 
Houdin, Robert, On the Davenport brothers, 154-67. 
Houdini, Harry, His handcuff act, 179, 182. 
Hyslop, Prof. J. H., On Hare's experiments, 19; on Zollner's experiments, 

37-9; on Mrs. Abbott, 205; on importance of psychical research, 327; 

on the real problems of psychical research, 333; on Mrs. Piper, 412. 

Indian magic, 389-93; affords no evidence of hallucination theory in the 

Home case, 393. 
Inference and observation, Relation of, 52, 59. 
Imperfect sealing of envelopes, 286. 

Information concerning sitters, Methods of gathering, 313-18. 
Interpretation of facts observed, 65, 321-2, 323. 
Intelligence, possessed by table, 66, 72; hypothetical explanations of 

369-70. 

Jacolliot, M., On raps, 347-9. 
James, Prof. William, On Mrs. Piper, 412. 

Jastrow, Prof. Joseph, On the psychology of deception, 57-8; on un- 
conscious muscular action, 67. 
Jencken, H. D., On Home's elongation, 394. 
Johnson, Miss Alice, On Eusapia Paladino, 13. 



422 Index 

Kellar, Harry, A pupil of the Davenports, 153. 

Knots in endless cords, 35-6; probable explanation of, 41-3; methods of 

fraudulently obtaining, 43-7. 
Keeler, W., Inconclusive nature of his spirit-photographs, 207. 



Lang, Andrew, On the question of the utility of psychical research, 326; 
on abnormality, 330; on poltergeists, 363; on hallucination in the 
Home case, 388; on Home's fire tests, 401; on the fire walk, 405; on 
Mrs. Piper, 412. 

Langley, Prof., On the fire walk, 407. 

Languages, Foreign, supposedly unknown to the medium, 62. 

Leaf, Dr. Walter, On Mrs. Piper, 412. 

Levitation, Cases of, 377-80; mass of evidence in favor of, 381 ; methods 
of fraudulently imitating, 382-3; theories of, 383-5; relation to tele- 
kinetic phenomena, 386. 

Lewis, Prof. Carvill, On Eglinton, 86. 

Lights, " Spirit," methods of obtaining by fraud, 252-3. 

Limits of the possible, 322-3, 393. 

Lindsay, Master of, On Home's levitation, 378-9; on Home's elongation, 
395; on the fire tests, 399-400. 

Lodge, Sir O. J., On Mrs. Abbott, 205; on telekinesis, 368, 370-1; on Mrs. 
Piper, 412. 

Lowell, Percival, On sensations experienced during possession, 357; on 
the fire walk, 406. 

Luminous paint, Methods of powdering, 269; methods of utilizing, 269-70. 



Maldescription, Examples of, 54, 55-6, 56-7. 

Maskelyne, J. N., On Mrs. Abbott, 204; on materialization, 238; on the 
Davenports, 153. 

Materialism, as opposed to spiritualism, 3. 

Materialization, Theory of, 230; scientific possibility of, 231, 237; history 
of fraud in connection with, 231-2, 234; full-form (see Full-form 
materialization) . 

Materializing seance, Description of, 239-44, 261-7; methods of fraudu- 
lently producing materialization from the floor, 271-2. 

Matter through matter, Explanation of a supposed case of, 33-4. 

Maxwell, Dr., On Eusapia Paladino, 13; on the Davey-Hodgson seances, 
90; on materialization, 237; on abnormality, 329-30; on raps, 342-4, 
345; on the personality of raps, 350-1; theory of the nature of, 355-7; 
on telekinetic phenomena, 360, 367-8, 369-70. 

Mellon. Mrs.. Endorsed by Wm. T. Stead, 232; exposure of, 233-4. 

Mind-reading performances, — telling the total of a row of figures on a 
slate, 295; conveying information by means of a fountain-pen, 295-6; 
code signals, 296-7; communicating by electricity, 297-8; by means 
of a mirror, 298; silent codes: by passes, 298-300; the Svengalis' 
performance, 300-2; by finger and arm movements, 302-5; by deep 
breathing, 305-6; by mental counting, 306-8; the Baldwins' perform- 
ance, 308-10; the Fays' performance, 310-11. 

Miracles, Scientific possibility of, 385. 

Morbidity, Question of, 58, 327-30, 363-4. 

Moses, w. S., R6sum£ of case, 14; paradoxical nature of evidence, 15. 

Movement of objects without contact {see Telekinesis). 

Muscle- reading, Distinct from mind-reading, 291 ; modus operandi of, 293-4. 

Music-boxes, Trick, 198-9. 

Myers, F. W. H., On materialization, 237; on the importance of psychical 



Index 423 

research, 327; on morbidity, 328; on telekinesis, 368, 371; on Mrs. 
Piper, 412. 

Names, How found and given by a medium, 317. 
Newbold, Prof. W., On Mrs. Piper, 412. 
Note-taking at seances, 60-1. 
Numbers on watches, How to tell, 280. 



Objections to a future life, No a priori, 413. 

Observation and inference, Relation of, 52, 59. 

Opacity of envelopes, 286. 

Ostwald, Dr., On scientific methods, 325. 

Ouija board, Explanation of movements of, 67, 70, 72. 

Owen, R. D., On the importance of psychical research, 327. 

Paintings, Oil (spirit), produced by fraud, 221; trap-door method, 222; 
hollow chair method, 222; duplicate canvas method, 222; chemical 
method, 222; self-developing method, 222-3. 

Paladino, Eusapia, Early mediumship of, 11; He Roubaud phenomena, 
11-12; Dr. Hodgson's attack on, 12; Cambridge sittings with, 12; 
detection of fraud in, 12; newer evidence, 13; Dr. Maxwell's defence 
of, 13; inconclusiveness of the case, 13-14; method of holding her 
hands and the release, 192. 

Palma exposed, 91. 

Pararnne mould test, described, 224-5; methods of producing the moulds, 
225; apparent impossibility of obtaining by normal means, 226; 
where the moulds are secreted, 227; how the moulds are introduced into 
the cabinet, 227; methods of decreasing the weight of the pail, 227-8; 
moulds obtained over materialized faces, 229; explanation of, 229. 

Pathological states (see Morbidity and Abnormality). 

Peculiarity of sound, in raps, 347-9. 

Personal experience, in obtaining raps, 352-4. 

Personality of the raps, 349-51. 

Peters, Alfred, Elongation of, 396-7. 

Photographing Indian conjurors, 391-2. 

Photography of supernormal events, 76. 

Photography, Spirit (see Spirit-photography). 

Philosophy, Worthlessness of, for proving future life, 324, 332-3. 

Pictures, Spirit, on slates, 115-6 (see Paintings). 

Piper, Mrs., Question of abnormality of, 329; feeling of depression after 
sitting, 357; impossibility of fraud in the case of, 411-2; alternative 
theories of trance personalities, 412-3. 

Planchette board, explanation of its movements, 67, 70, 72. 

Planting a town, 313. 

Podmore, Frank, On Hare's experiments, 20; on table-turning, 65; on 
the Davenports, 153; on the Home phenomena, 336-7, 377; on pol- 
tergeists, 362-3; on Home's character, 372; on hallucination in the 
Home case, 386-7; on Home's elongation, 398-9; on Home's fire tests, 
401-2; on the fire walk, 408; on Mrs. Piper, 412. 

Poltergeists, 362-7. 

Possible, Limits of the, 322-3, 393. 

Posts, Spirit, 168-71. 

Power, Pretended exhaustion of, 63. 

Precipitated chalk marks, 142. 

Prejudice of scientific men, 322. 



424 Index 

Preparations of medium for seance, 172-3. 
Professional mediums, Untrustworthy character of, 9-10. 
Psychical research, Nature of the evidence in, 24; present crude condition 
of, 324. 

Raps, Methods of obtaining by fraud, 79-82; scientific possibility of, 340; 
possibility of controlling, 345-6, 353; sensations during the produc- 
tion of, 345; personal experience in obtaining, 352-4; possible ex- 
planation of, 355-7. 

Rapping chairs, 79; tables, 78. 

Real problems psychical research has to solve, 5, 332-3, 410-11, 414. 

Religious objections to the study of pyschical research, considered, 326, 
331. 

Richet, Prof. Charles, On materialization, 237; on Mrs. Piper, 412. 

Ring passed onto arm test, 33-4. 

Rope-climbing exploit, 390-2. 

Rope-tying methods : " Slack," how to obtain, 143-4, 146; tape test, 144-5; 
breaking the seals method, 146; duplicate rope method, 146; false 
sleeves method, 147; spirit necktie, 147-9; post tests: chisel method, 
168-70; hollow post method, 170-1; staples and swinging board test, 
171; spiritualistic couch, 172; pillory, 172. 

Rules for conjurers, 48, 49, 50. 

Sack tests: Method with a duplicate sack, 173-4; bolster method, 174-5; 
method with a steel collar, 175; method with sealed tapes, 175-9. 

Savage, Minot J., On the accordion test, 374. 

Scientific men, Prejudice of, 322. 

Sealed-letter reading, 7-8; carbon sheet (pad) method, 276-7; paraffine 
sheet method, 277; soaped sheet method, 277; sheet of glass method, 
277; soft paper and hard pencil method, 278; exchange of pellets 
method, 279; the " one ahead " trick, 279-80; numbers on watches, 
how to tell, 280; sealed-letter reading: public stances, 280-2; by- 
means of trick-table, 283; alcohol and envelope test, 284; the slit 
envelope method, 285; answer on the inside of the envelope, 285-6; 
imperfect sealing of envelopes, 286; opacity of envelopes, 286; 
mirror table, 287; methods of opening sealed letters, 287-90. 

Seance, a producer of abnormal mental states, 58. 

Searching medium: Methods of concealing clothes during the process of, 
250-1, 256-7. 

Seeman, " Baron " Hartwig, On raps, 349. 

Sensations during the production of phenomena, 345, 356-7, 366-7. 

Sidgwick, Prof. H., On Dr. Hart's criticisms of psychical research, 322; 
on Mrs. Piper, 412. 

Sidgwick, Mrs., Criticisms of Zollner's experiments, 37; on Eglinton, 85; 
on spirit-photography, 208-9; on Mrs. Mellon, 232; on Mrs. Piper, 412. 

Slade, Dr. Henry, Career of, 20-4; fraud committed by, detected by Sey- 
bert Commission, 21; by J. W. Truesdell, 22, 23; confession of, 22, 23; 
slate tests of, 25; Carl Willmann's testimony concerning, 25; experi- 
ments with a compass, 25-6; tele kinetic phenomena, 26-7; levitation, 
27-8; coins in sealed boxes test, 29; impressions of naked feet, 29-30; 
rings on table-leg, 30-1; probable explanation of, 31-2; knots in endless 
cords, 35-6; probable explanation of, 41-3; defective nature of the 
evidence, 36-41. 

Slate-writing seances, Imperfections of evidence in, 54; Slate-writing tests. 
Methods of obtaining writing by fraud : 
§ 1. With a single slate (prepared). 
Flap method, 91-2; another use for the flap, 92; silk flap, 92-3; endless 



Index 425 

band slate, 93; another way of working the flap-slate, 94-6; the 
imperfect flap, 96-7: slate and pellet test, 97-8; onion juice method, 
98; colored chalks method, 99; acid writing method, 99; scratching 
method, 100; producing the sound of writing, 100-1. 
§ 2. With a single slate {unprepared). 

Medium invariably handles the slates, 102-3; difficulties of detecting 
trickery, 103; the finger-nail method, 104-5; thimble method, 106; 
prepared finger method, 106; the " materialized " slate-pencil test, 
106-8; watch-spring and card method, 109; the alcohol test, 109; 
the caustic pencil test. 110-11: strip of wood test, 111; writing with 
the toes, 111-12; writing with the teeth, 112; method with a pile of 
four slates, 112-13; same test — another method, 113-14; the slit 
carpet test, 114; trick-chair method, 114-15; exchange by means of 
the table-cloth, 116-17; hollow table and boy method, 117-18; hollow 
table and trap-door method, 118. 
§ 3. Methods with a double slate (prepared). 

False flap and spring catch method. 119; the grooved-frame slate 
test, 120; the cardboard slate test, 120-1; the key and thimble method, 
121; the flap and transposition method, 122; the trick-hinge slate, 
122; the box slate, 122-3; answer on the question-paper test, 123; 
same test — when the paper is marked, 123-4; hinged slate and trick 
table method, 124; slate-writing by electricity, 124; slate and pre- 
pared dictionary test. 124-5; method with an ordinary dictionary, 125-7. 
§ 4. Methods with a double slate (unprepared). 

Wedge and umbrella wire test. 128-9; transposition and substitution 
method. 129-30; frameless slates test, 130-1; pellets and slate sub- 
stitution method, 132-4; public test seances, 134: magnet and trick- 
chalk method, 134-6; trap-door method, 136-8; table drawer method, 
138; bureau method, 138. 
§ 5. Miscellaneous tests. 

Hermetically sealed vials, 139; writing obtained by heat, 140; 
chemical methods, 140; exchange of vials, 140; blood writing on 
the arm: pointed stick method, 140-1; glycerine and ashes method, 
141; strip of wood method, 141; spirit-typewriter test, 141-2. 

Sound of writing. Difficulty in locating, 100; methods of imitating the 
sound of writing by fraud, 100-1. 

Spirit-photography, Problem of, 206; conditions excluding fraud in, 207; 
Seybert Commission on, 207; A. R. Wallace on, 208; Mrs. Sidgwick 
on, 208-9; inconclusive nature of the evidence for, 209-11; theo- 
retical possibility of, 210; methods of obtaining by fraud: imper- 
fect cleansing of the plates, 214; glass bath and concealed light 
method, 215; exposure while examining plate, 215-16; microscopic 
picture device, 216; by retouching, 216; double exposure, 217; 
painting the back screen, 217; celluloid figures, 217; double printing, 
217; faces obtained on plates in a strange city, 218-20; pictures, 
" spirit," obtained by fraud, 220-1. 

Spiritism, Defined. 3. 

Spiritualism, Defined, 3, 4; origins of, 4; not dependent upon physical 
phenomena, 4-5; extent of fraud connected with, 6; as a creed, 
rationality of, 338; summing-up of, 338-9. 

Spring balance test (Crookes), 373-4. 

Standard of evidence, 323-4. 

Staples, Trick, 183. 

Stead, William T.. On Mrs. Mellon. 232. 

" Suckers." Meaning of the term, 258; methods of "working," 258-60. 

Suggestion, a factor in the distraction of attention, 49. 

Svengalis, The, Their mind-reading performance, 300-2. 



426 Index 

Table, Intelligence possessed by, 66, 72. 

Table-turning, Description of the phenomena, 64; Prof. Faraday's theory 

of, 67; scientific attitude toward, 71; by fraudulent means, 73-4. 
Telegraph, Electric, as a means of spirit communication, 82-3. 
Telekinesis, Methods of fraudulently imitating the phenomena, 358; 

probable reality of, 359; nature of, 367-71; related to levitation, 386. 
Telepathy, Unknown nature of, 291; impossibility of controlling, 291. 
Telescopic rod, 196-7; uses of, 197. 
Theosophy, 16-18. 

Theosophical Society, Relations of, to S. P. R., 15-18. 
Thought photography, 210. 
Thread tie, as a convincing test, 184-5. 
Trance mediums, Majority of, fraudulent, 411. 
Trap-doors, 260-1, 272-3. 
Trumpet mediums, Methods of obtaining voices by fraud, 201. 

Unconscious muscular action, 67, 68. 

Utility of psychical research, Question of, 325. 

Vest-turning trick, 203-4. 

Voices, Independent (see Trumpet mediums). 

Wallace, Dr. A. R., On spirit-photography, 208; on the relative importance 

of mental and physical phenomena, 334. 
Water, Cases of agitation of, 364-5. 
Willmann, Carl, On the Slade phenomena, 25. 
Wijk, H., On raps, 345-6. 
Wire cage test, 184. 

X. Miss, On abnormality, 329. 

Zollner, Prof., Tendencies to hallucination in, 28 (see Slade). 






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